


Trouble With Gehenna

by Vergil1989



Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Turned Into Vampire, Drama & Romance, F/F, F/M, Gen, Horror, Human/Vampire Relationship, Multi, Other, Supernatural Elements, Vampire Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2018-06-01 22:44:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 42,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6539548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vergil1989/pseuds/Vergil1989
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Funny thing about vampires, no one ever tells you that life gets far more interesting when you stop breathing. There might be a lot of upsides to being immortal, but it's not all that it's cracked up to be. Trapped in unlife until I get dusted, I figured I'd take the time to tell my story, in the hope it helps someone survive this Masquerade. High T, low M, for now, post VTMB.  (Posted on FF.Net as well.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lesson Learned

**Author(s) Notes:** _Just so we're clear from the get go folks, I'm a recent, to use an in-game/in-lore term, 'Embraced' as far as this rather intriguing setting is concerned, so this won't be connected to Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines in regards to the story. This is still using the lore and maybe even some of the characters as you see them in game, but by and large this is its own story separate from what happened in Santa Monica and its surrounding areas. Most characters will be OC because of this, but there will be mentions regarding those that survived the end of the story, if not outright cameos of those characters that would realistically get around, like Smiling Jack to name one such example. But as a longtime fan of vampires, werewolves, and all those wonderful things that go bump in the night, and after recently discovering this game on Youtube thanks in no small part to Christopher Odd, I figured I'd throw my hat into the mix here on FF. So, enjoy folks!_

_If I can think of a good fandom to cross this over with at a later date, I'll likely do so, but for now this is my only straight, non crossover story I have on my profile. At any rate, enjoy!_

**Disclaimer** : _We own nothing regarding White Wolf's World of Darkness or any of its adaptations. This is purely a work of fanfiction with no monetary gain whatsoever. So, fun and mayhem of our own creation follows from here on out, we're just the lucky guys that get to play in their world, as many of you can no doubt attest to. D Enjoy!_

_Also, any religious and/or political viewpoints, etc, are merely for the use of the story and do not in any way reflect those of our own. Any mention of real life movies, music, etc, are also claimed by their original owners._

**Chapter 1: Lesson Learned**

Stop me if you've heard this line before. Let me tell you the story of how I _almost_ died. Sound familiar? Denzel Washington, playing the part of some hotshot New York City detective in a movie appropriately called Fallen, got in way over his head when he ran afoul of an entity well beyond his simple, human understanding. This entity, able to jump between people with a mere pass of the hand, would quickly tear his life apart before being outsmarted by the cop in question, only for it to get away in the end by the skin of its teeth. It makes for a good story, and even now I consider Fallen one of Denzel's better movies at this point in time.

Funny thing about fiction though, there's always a bit of truth hidden between the lines. I didn't understand that, until I ran afoul of something that changed my own concept of reality and turned it on its head. Unlike Denzel's detective though, there was no almost dying for me. Guess I should have listened to my mother and all those Sunday school stories she tried to cram down my throat, otherwise I probably wouldn't have woken up in the city morgue, minus a heartbeat.

Well, on the other hand, who would have thought that a little clubbing would cause a severe case of undeath? Let me back up a bit first and lay a little groundwork before we get to the real interesting stuff. My name is Alex, short for Alexandria. Don't ask where it came from, because it's too damn embarrassing to repeat in 'polite society', but that's a whole other can of worms which is for later too. Point is, who I was is not who I am now, or what I am might be the better way to describe what has happened to me.

Which will take some time to get used to. Why no one ever told me that spontaneous species change is that easy is beyond me, but here I am. I guess it could be worse, like say burning alive as soon as I step into the sunlight, oh wait, that's exactly what happens. Thankfully I avoided that misstep, no thanks to my Sire, but again I get ahead of myself. Blame my wandering thoughts on this whole enhanced senses shtick, sensory overload doesn't begin to cover it.

Okay, let's do this right.

**Some time ago.**

New York, New York, the city that those fleeing from the eastern continents for one reason or another often came here first. It's rather fitting that the city of refugees, vagabonds, and more would be the start of this particular story. What better place to start a new life? Just don't mind the organized crime that everyone pretends doesn't exist in the darker corners of the city. You can get mugged on one street corner, sold into prostitution on another, and maybe even stabbed to death in a dark alley all in one day if your luck is about as bad as mine was when I first showed up in town, hoping to get away from a single mom who was the very definition of a bible thumper, born again, "Can I get a Hallelujah?!" Christian. Except she forgot the part about compassion, understanding, and went right for the fire and brimstone sections of her Bible with a vengeance.

I love this city, really, so many possibilities, many of them bad for your health sure, but at least you get a choice here, more or less. Even without adding the complexities of the politics of vampiric life, or unlife I guess, there were certain rules you went by if you wanted to survive in New York, but those tended to be the same for any big city like this one. Man, my life was so easy back then, no stupid pompous Ventrue looking down on me, thinking they were superior or some other vampire looking for trouble, or even better, a werewolf wanting to tear you limb from limb. My advice, should you ever be unfortunate enough to find yourself in the last situation, run, run like hell. Seriously, don't mess with those things, even the 'civilized' wolves aren't to be fucked with. Thankfully there aren't many in the cities, otherwise I would be someone's chewtoy by now, knowing my luck.

As for the rules regarding traveling through, and thriving in a city like this one though? It's pretty simple really. Don't sign anything without reading the fine print, especially if you're trying to get a job in the 'fine arts of acting'. Chances are you'd find yourself in some dirty backroom, and 'asked' to take your clothes off for some old man with a hidden camera. I was a writer, so I didn't have to worry about that personally. Another good thing to go by is to be able to defend yourself. A gun? Doesn't do shit if you can't hit your target, although against a vampire it just pisses us off, unless you're packing a twelve gauge, or a flamethrower, but who carries _those_ around in public? No, if you want a chance, hand to hand is the way to go, and I'm not talking about a twelve week course in some faux form of martial arts. Find a real master of kicking someone's ass with their bare hands and go from there.

Oh, and of course look out for older vampires, they have way more experience than you do, both in life and in ass kicking, let alone in being able to use all kinds of creepy ass powers. Don't piss them off either, unless you have a really awesome guardian angel who enjoys coming to your rescue for the rest of your eternal life then, you're good to go. I got lucky a few times during the first couple months, but there's a time and a place that you have to either grow a pair or go home in an ashtray. I grew a pair, and made myself indispensable, for those few 'allies' I trust not to screw me over without giving it some serious thought first. As for those few I actually trust with my life, well, those fall under their own category of badass, more on that later though.

So, what happened to the fresh faced virgin to the big bad city? Things went about as you'd expect for someone that had just 'come out of the closet' among a small community that knew everyone else's dirty laundry. My mother hated my guts, my neighbors soon knew that I had a thing for women, and the rest was pretty much history from there. So I packed up, took dad's truck he left me for my eighteenth birthday before he got into a fight with a telephone pole, that he lost in a head on collision one rainy night of September, and I left town the next day. I had planned to leave my little country life behind anyway, I just left a few months earlier than planned was all.

Unfortunately, those few months might have made all the difference. Finding an apartment almost killed me in its own right since it turns out everything is much more expensive in the big city. And far harder to get, because the moment you might suspect that a flat is available you better give the landlord a call, otherwise you're too late. I was almost prepared to either sleep on a park bench by the time I found something, or possibly murder someone in order to get their apartment when I did finally get my own place.

Although, that park bench looked pretty inviting compared to the place I was able to make my own those first few weeks. The cracks in the walls allowed a pretty cold draft to blow through, the lock on the door would have been a mere annoyance for your average human thief, let alone something with the strength to bench press you with one hand. Although, if a thief had broken in during my early days before I became a vampire, he would have likely taken pity on me and gave me something rather than steal anything. Such was the state of my dear home at the time, but now it's… better, I guess you could say. For one thing the cold doesn't bother me anymore, so that's a plus. And now I could easily tear apart a human thief with an arm tied behind my back and blindfolded, and I would probably still get killed by the first vampire who decided that he didn't like my face. Oh well, such is life.

So here I was, with an apartment that was probably a fire hazard in the making, and about out of money, but thankfully, I found work behind a bar of a club. Yes, I said a club, and no, it wasn't a 'gentlemen's club', although clothes still had a tendency to come off in the dark corners. Every night was a party, an atmosphere that was encouraged by the club owner, and I have to say, I rather enjoyed it, still do really. And then one night in the late April, I saw her.

Stop me if you've heard this story before. Girl meets girl, girl talks to girl, girl ends up going home with girl. It didn't happen all at once mind you, if anything said girl, pale goddess I had thought of her at the time, with strangely luminescent emerald eyes and alabaster skin that could have been cut from the finest marble, was shyer than I was. I didn't find out later until her teeth were in my neck why she was so hesitant to get close to anyone. Funny how life works out like that.

Just so you know, for the victim of the vampire, this whole sucking blood thing feels _really_ pleasurable, well for the vampire too, but nevermind that. Imagine the best sex you've ever had, throw in a little heroin, and you _might_ get close to how good it feels to be fed on, let alone be the one feeding. I wouldn't advise you to turn into a blood whore or something like that though, most vampires can and will use you until there's nothing left. I'm nicer than most. I wouldn't do that, not unless I got good reason to, like say you shot me in the face, that makes me kinda cranky. Or when I'm really, really thirsty and you are that type of unsavoury person I can feed on without feeling guilty. Survival of the fittest takes on a whole new meaning from a moral standpoint for people like us given the whole Beast wanting to be unleashed. I was lucky in that I was Sired by a Toreador, one of the few clans that actually try to keep in touch with their humanity.

I mean, sorry to say this, but the Nosferatu aren't gonna win any beauty contests anytime soon. They have pretty useful qualities, those being a knack for computers and assassinations, but I wouldn't want to live looking like that. The Malkavian on the other hand are all insane, literally all of them have lost more than a few marbles in one way or another, yet they somehow manage to see and know things no sane person ever should. Creepy I tell you, especially when you're talking to one and suddenly they start throwing your most embarrassing secrets in your face, all while smiling creepily. Yeah, not the most pleasant experience, trust me. And don't get me started about those blood mage bastards who can create gargoyles, among other supernatural entities that don't even have names anymore. There are fewer things more terrifying, even for our kind, than running into a flesh crafted monstrosity better left to some Lovecraftian horror story.

As for me, Toreador I might be, a 'degenerate', hedonist, and all that other garbage, but I actually work for a living, unlike most of the rest of those that came before me or will come after me no doubt. Yeah, I have a thing for art, for beauty, and all the trappings of the finer things in life, partly because of my upbringing, as religious based as it might have started, partly because of the cursed blood in my veins, but I always worked for what I wanted. Nothing was ever handed to me. So make all the jokes you want about me and the clan I happen to be a part of simply because of who made me, but I'm _not_ my clan. I know a dozen ways to snap your neck with just my bare hands without breaking a sweat, if I could sweat, so don't fuck with me and I won't leave you as a pile of ash.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's continue with the story. Now where were I? Ah yes, the whole being sucked on thing. First, it was really awesome, although the sex beforehand hadn't been bad by any stretch of the imagination. Toreador specialize in being hedonists, remember? For some, that translated into being very, _very_ skilled lovers. However, once my vision began to darken since I was busy dying, it became a whole lot less awesome. To this day, I don't remember what happened next, or the taste of my Sire's blood on my tongue as she brought me back from the brink, I only remember taking a ragged, deep breath that I no longer needed only to realize I was in a metal box set into a wall. I found out later that my Sire, like someone else across the US, wasn't supposed to make a new Kindred. Not for the same reasons perhaps, since LaCroix, bastard I've heard he was before he was blown up or something, had no say in what happened in New York, no matter what he thought, arrogant little princeling. But the point is, the Powers that Be and shall, for now, remain unnamed, busted down my apartment door, dusted my Sire, and stuffed me into the nearest morgue they controlled so they could clean up the mess in peace. And….let's just say there was a lot to clean up, ash pile not included. ….Moving on.

Trouble is, they were a little late to the party, and I ended up waking up a little earlier than anticipated. So when I _did_ wake up, there was no committee of vampire elders waiting to greet me, to explain what had happened, why it shouldn't have happened, and what they were going to do to me, if anything. Needless to say, waking up in a morgue cabinet would have been enough to make anyone panic, and given how my night had gone, as good as it might have started, I was beyond scared shitless. I didn't notice I was wearing nothing but a paper dress that I lost at some point as I made a break for the nearest exit, only to immediately jump back into the shadows when the sun started to burn my skin away upon shoving the doors out of my way. The early hours of dawn are not the best way to come into vampirism, trust me, and the smell of burning flesh lingers in the nose like nothing else, except maybe raw sewage. And yes, I've been in the sewers, not something I want to talk about right now.

To make matters worse, I was hungry, as hungry as I've never been before or have been since then. Side effect of being new to the V club I guess. Anyway, there I was as good as naked, unable to go outside and hungry enough to drink dry a dozen people, and dead man's blood doesn't do shit for the hunger in question, believe me I tried. Not a good start as far as I'm concerned.

Thankfully, someone had apparently expected this and prepared a lot of transfusions in a little box for me. How they got it in there without anyone asking what the hell he or she was doing I will probably never know, but I didn't particularly care at that moment. I think I was on bag number six before I came to my senses, such as they were, and in typical fledgling fashion, I tried to immediately throw it back up as the horror of what I had just been doing caught up with me. Yeah, that worked out real well. Not only had I already digested what I had drank down in the time it takes a chain smoker to go through a single cancer stick, I had no gag reflex to speak of anymore.

And I was still damn hungry with my instincts screaming at me to stop screwing around and order the next round of red juice. With nothing better to do other than wonder if I was losing my mind, I saw little point in arguing the point further and went back to my box of juice bags. When I had finally pushed the worst of the hunger away, I was able to get off the dirty, cold linoleum and actually take stock of myself and my immediate surroundings. Looking up though, I realized I had been drinking not ten feet away from a fresh cadaver, but thankfully the Y incision cut into the poor guy's chest was sewed shut, otherwise I might have found a way to vomit. Blood, gore, and all of the bodily fluids associated with violence and death doesn't bother me like it used to, having seen and left behind my fair share by this point, but at the time, I was still new to this whole thing. I had a sensitive stomach, _had_ being the operative word.

 _Okay….okay, I'm in a morgue. Dead bodies on metal slabs kinda give that away._ I remember thinking, as I tried to get my unnecessary rapid breathing under some semblance of control. My next thought was rather predictable. _What am I doing in a morgue? Oh god, am I some kind of weird zombie thing?! I don't wanna be a zombie! They are so gross._ As I said, predictable, but also fitting given my liking for all those kinds of movies and stories. I am still an unrepentant nerd, with a capital N, but now I can't help but laugh at how many things all those shows get wrong.

Next I was forced to face a serious problem, that being I was naked in a morgue with deadly sunlight outside, empty blood bags all around me, and probably looking like a serial killer after his latest killing spree. Thankfully, every morgue has a showering station within easy reach for those technicians that work in places like this, so cleaning up the mess I had made of myself and the immediate area was easy. After the shower, I had a chance to see my own reflection, and yes, we do have reflections, unless some of our more gifted members are using powerful illusion magics to conceal themselves.

Blue eyes, while not entirely as I remembered them, stared back at me. The face they were set in, which was thankfully still mine, was unnaturally pale and blemish free. I had always had problems with pimples, no matter what I tried to do to get rid of them, but now it was as if they had never existed. Pale, smooth, soft as silk, I could have fooled anyone into thinking I had just walked off the set of some gothic fashion show. My hair at least was exactly the same, although the ponytail I usually kept my long, brunette hair contained in had been undone at some point, either by my recently deceased vampire girlfriend who I didn't know had been dusted, or by the vampires who had dropped me here.

So basically I had died, and been returned to this world as an undead, even though I wasn't aware of that fact, at least not at that point, but I was smoking hot, which was a plus. I was grasping at straws, trying to keep my sanity, what was left at the time, intact, sue me for finding comfort in something so mundane as my physical appearance. As for the rest of me, well, I hadn't been bad to look at before, but now? Having seen my first vampire what felt like an eternity ago, it'd be hard to imagine _not_ turning heads everywhere I went as I looked now. What they don't tell you about being a vampire is that the attention you tend to attract can get real annoying real quick, especially when dealing with ghouls, but more on that another time. Let's just say ghouls, humans who have been given vampire blood without being drained near to death themselves, make golden retrievers seem useless by comparison because they're somehow able to sense vampires a mile away.

Having taken in my new, ravenous form long enough, which, as I said, hadn't been bad to look at before given the fact that I had worked for a living, meaning I was no stranger to physical exertions, I left the shower room in the hopes of finding clothes I could….borrow. Luckily for me, the possessions box the techs put extra clothes, pocket watches, jewelry, etc, and catalogue it either for evidence in active police cases or whatever, hadn't been emptied out, or it was left for me purposely to take my pick. I wasn't about to question it either way, so I was able to find something to serve as replacements of my lost belongings.

Pulling a pair of blue jeans out of the box along with a black, long sleeved shirt and a gaudy looking pair of red bra and panties, don't ask, I wasted no time in getting dressed. It was probably just as well because no sooner had I stepped back into the main room, where the dead guy was thankfully still as lifeless as I'd left him, a guy in a black suit came into the room, his hands held up before him in what was probably supposed to be a placating gesture. I took it as a reason to jump backward, far further than I had intended, and hit the back wall with a loud clang. "Easy easy! I'm a friend….well, friendlier than most you're likely to run into in this town." Suited guy said, keeping his distance even as he tried to convince me to relax.

Word of advice, don't try to tell someone to calm down. It never works. "Yeah? Why should I believe you? You could be the guy who brought me here for some reason, is this your murder house? Some kind of sick fantasy where you first murder people and then autopsy them, part of your little game?"

"Wow, you should write books with this kind of fantasy. You'd make a killing." The man replied with an easy going smile. A smile I wanted to punch right off his stupid face.

"Har har." I spat back and rolled my baby blues in retort before slowly peeling myself away from the wall. The claw marks I left in the steel door I didn't see until later. "Start making some goddamn sense you suited ape, or I'm going right through you."

That kind of threat should have gotten a more terrified response, but the 'suited ape' in front of me had seen my type before. "I don't doubt that you could, but that wouldn't accomplish much, unless you want to turn into some kind of genderbent Human Torch."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, beyond confused despite having not so long ago made that exact mistake. I couldn't make the connection though, but as I said, I was freaking out.

"Hello? Sunlight? You step in, you burn. Come on you have to know that." He shot back with an eyeroll. "They told me you were intelligent for christ's sake. You obviously drank the blood in that box, you're very pale, and much stronger than before given how far you jumped away from me. Any of this ringing any bells?" I gave him an uncomprehending look in return, and he sighed in response. "You're a vampire. Now repeat after me, I am a vampire."

"I'm a...vampire?" I repeated, dumbly I might add, but saying it aloud and with what I had been doing before I regained my senses, made something click. It didn't make me feel better, but it helped, or it would soon enough. At that time though, I had the powerful urge to rip the guy's throat out for how stupid he was sounding. "A vampire? _Me_? Sure that girl had a bite fetish but-"

"You're going to be one of those huh?" He groaned and facepalmed. "And here I thought we were making progress. Is it really that hard to believe?"

"Um yes?" I asked, making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world, or that he was the most moronic person I had come across, take your pick. Jokes on me, I would find out later. "Vampires? You couldn't come up with a better one than the most cliche thing there is?"

"Well, I tried." Despite my enhanced senses, reflexes, and everything else that comes with being a newly Embraced fledgling, I didn't move when the guy pulled a gun from a side holster that I hadn't registered until he revealed it with a practiced flick of his wrist. Before I could begin to think about moving to either get out of the way or rip the gun from his hand, he turned the silenced pistol on me and pulled the trigger.

The pain was….remarkably not as bad as I thought it'd be even as a hole formed in my right side, and a quick examination of my back revealed the shot had gone through and through. "Y-you shot me." I stammered in disbelief and shock. Small town living meant small time crime, and most of that was quickly broken up by the cops before anyone was hurt. AKA, I had never been shot before. Funny thing about being turned into a vampire, your life gets a lot more interesting.

More amazing was the fact the suited ape looked utterly bored, as if he'd done this before. It turned out he had. "Yes, now, as you can see you are perfectly fine aside from the pain of course, an-"

But I wasn't listening, but would you listen to a guy who had just put a nine mil slug into your side? "You shot me… I'm dying! You killed me." I moaned through the pain, which had already started to fade. All that blood I had slurped down, as well as the simple fact bullets just piss us off, aside from something more powerful like buckshot, had kickstarted the regeneration process.

"Oh god no, no one can be that stubborn." The guy moaned in exasperation and looked close to using the pistol on himself if it meant getting away from my moaning and continued denial. "You are not dying! You're undead! Unless you get burned to a crisp or fancy walking on sunshine you should be fine. Why do you have to make this so complicated? Just look under your shirt."

"Fine!" I snarled back, unaware I had just bared my fangs for the first time as I pulled up my black top and saw, to my utter amazement and shock, that the hole I had expected to find was already fading literally before my eyes. Besides a small little stream of blood that had escaped from the perfectly round wound, there was soon enough no trace of him having shot me in the first place. "Wha-...how? This is…."

"Insane? Utterly beyond comprehension? I've heard it all before. I've only had to shoot five fledglings, uh, newly awoken Kindred like you, to get my point across."

"Gee thanks." I muttered and pulled my shirt back down with a huff. After having seen irrefutable proof of my recent transformation, all of that shock and denial was starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. It was still there, don't get me wrong, but I was able to put the worst of it to the wayside for the moment.

"Now that you are finally beyond the denial stage of your little transformation, let's get you out of here, before someone walks in and wonders why the hell the freshly deceased woman is walking around." The guy said rather cheerfully and clapped once. "Alright, you ready to go?"

"Um, one question genius, what about the whole turning into crispy critters?" I asked, my hands on my hips as I leaned forward for effect. Under any other circumstances, the view I was unintentionally presenting would have had anyone with a pulse eager to worship at my feet, but the guy before me merely turned his back with a cough.

"Did you miss the part where I've done this before? I have it all worked out." The shit eating grin on the guy's face, which now that I wasn't busy freaking out and in total denial, I had to admit looked rather handsome, was annoying me to no end. The urge to rip his throat out returned, but I held it in check, somehow as he gestured with his right hand for me to follow him. "I have a van in the parking garage with tinted windows, UV resistant. You'll be fine. I wouldn't be doing my job right if I didn't take into account your kind's….unique needs."

"My _kind_? Fuck it, let's just go." I grumbled, too tired, metaphorically speaking, to give a flying fuck at that point. I just wanted a quiet place to process this insanity, maybe wake up and realize it was all a bad dream. No such luck in my case.

Seeming to sense my thoughts or maybe I wasn't hiding them so well off my face, the guy started to reach out to put a hand on my shoulder, only for me to flinch away at the heat his skin radiated. "Sorry." He offered, and the whipped puppy dog look that came over his handsome face did more for my nerves than anything he'd done so far, shooting me aside of course. Although I had no idea how someone as annoying as he was could make me feel as bad as he did with the look he was giving me, I remember muttering an apology for flinching away when he was just trying to help. It was enough for him as that damned grin started to return. "Let's get you out of here. We have a bit of a drive ahead of us."

The drive was the easy part. Getting out of the hospital just as the morning shift of nurses and doctors started to file in? That was something else. If not for the suited ape's steadying presence anchoring me, I might have lost what control I had and found myself a snack, or twelve, on my way out the door. Enhanced senses is _not_ something you want to awaken to in the middle of a crowded building, in the middle of the day no less. Everything was new, as if I was seeing the world for the first time, and in a way, that wasn't wrong to say.

I most certainly saw it differently, like you were watching VHS, you know, old video cassette tapes, your whole life and suddenly switch to Blu-ray, something like that, only everything was more pronounced. Sounds, smells, everything. Still not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It can be good, especially if you're trying to track someone down, but also quite bad, so yeah. Meh, depends on the situation I suppose, and if you're able to prepare yourself mentally ahead of time. I had none of the skills I do now though, so everything was hitting me at once. As I said, sensory overload? That would have been preferred by the time we got out to the guy's van, and even then it wasn't much of an improvement. I could smell the three year old coffee stains in the back seat, let alone the far fresher scents of fast food, cigar smoke, and at least one tryst in the back that had ended with one person coming out on their feet. The poor bastard she had been...having fun with however, had gone out on his back into the river once she had taken her fill. How I knew that was beyond me, but it was there for the taking. The van was its own history book, and I had access to every detail. Which kinda sucked at that moment, because I most definitely would have prefered it to sleep or something like that but _no_ , my enhanced senses denied me that. It didn't help my new sleep schedule hadn't kicked in yet, having woken up in the early morning hours, so I was already fucked on that account. Thankfully tomorrow morning would see me passing out just as the sun came up, whether I liked it or not, but that was a long ways off yet, and I didn't know any of this still.

One thing was for certain though, my life was undeniably changed. Could I go back to work like this? Looking like I had been replaced by a better looking, if pretty pale, version of myself? How was I supposed to explain _that_ to my boss? "You don't." Looking up, the knowing look on my driver's face was something close to sympathetic. "You're wondering if you can go back to your own life? You don't. Your old life's over, hate to say it, but that's the truth. You can do whatever you like, but if it puts the rest of the supernatural community at risk of exposure, you better rethink your options real quick. That's the only big rule you need to worry about, but you'll get that talk as soon as we reach our destination. Just….be respectful, the elders you're meeting today are far more powerful than you will ever be."

"So that much the movies got right at least?" I asked dumbly, realizing how I probably sounded, but I was trying to make sense of it all.

"Pretty much, but that's about the only thing they got right, that and the whole sunlight bit. Water doesn't hurt, but you found that out already I wager. Crosses? Religion in general? All that bull? Nothing. Garlic? Nothing, but it smells bad for your kind I hear. Fire _does_ pose a problem, since you tend to burn easier, but overall you'll heal from pretty much everything else. The only other thing you need to worry about is magical creatures and their assorted powers. You're not invincible, but you can take a beating and walk it off with a quick suck on someone's neck. Rats and vermin in general will help in a pinch, but I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you're a part of one of the more 'refined' clans." The way he said _refined_ made me visualize air quotes. "Not only will it taste pretty foul, again so I've heard, but certain clans look down on those who eat animals. I don't know what clan Sired you, only that you're a part of the V Club now. I was told to pick you up, do what I could to help you, and get you to safety. I learned to have blood bags ready after the last girl I was told to pick up." The shiver that passed through him might as well have been a full body convulsion for all the good it did him to try and hide his discomfort at the memory.

"Thanks I guess." I replied, and wondered if the smell of the dead guy said girl had probably munched on was the same girl my new friend was talking about. I then realized I probably didn't want to know.

"Eh, don't mention it." The guy shrugged, but he shot me a little smile anyway, "I mean how many people thanked you for doing your job?"

That oddly enough made me smile back even as I had to think about the question. "Now that you mention it… depressingly few. Huh." I had to blink my blue eyes and cock my head to the side as I tried to remember the times I had ever been thanked for tending the bar I had worked at, albeit for a short amount of time. It was a welcome distraction, needless to say, but it didn't last long when we hit a pothole and I was jarred back to my present circumstance. "Does it get easier?" I ask, morose and sorrow filtering into my voice as the reality came crashing down on me with renewed vigor.

"Depends on your definition of 'easier'. Does it get easier living with all the benefits of being a vampire? Yeah, that part gets easy, just give it time." The guy at my side had the decency to lose his grin as he gave me the rest of his latest bit of 'sage advice'. It wasn't cheerful, to say the least. "As for the conflict of morality with what you'll have to do to survive, the constant battle with the Beast all your kind fight to keep hold of some semblance of what you were, that doesn't get any easier, especially if you try to keep to a higher standard than most of the vampiric community who use and discard humans like used soda cans."

I didn't understand what he meant then about this Beast business, but it wouldn't take me long to figure it out. That crack about my intelligence wasn't without warrant, since I've always been pretty smart, but any ignorance on my part could be forgiven with what happened to me and all. That and no one had left a handy, user friendly manual regarding the perils and benefits of vampirism for me to find after all. Not that I could blame them now, since exposing the supernatural community, something my new friend had hinted at already, is something we can't risk, but it would have been nice at the time, jerks.

Thankfully, the time between the hospital and our destination passed in silence after that, and it gave me time to compose myself to the best of my ability, the lingering hunger notwithstanding anyway. Those blood bags hadn't exactly been fresh or the best quality in regards to my 'refined palate', something I'd learn about later, but they had done the job they'd been meant for. As for the scenery outside, tinted windows or not, I could still see enough to get an idea of where we were despite my limited time in the city. Upstate New York was kinda hard to miss since it was nothing but glass skyscrapers and clean, almost immaculate streets as far as the eye could see. There were still places one just didn't go such as the dark alleys and what have you, but overall, the worst crime that happened here, where celebrities and powerful CEOs resided, tended to happen behind closed doors, in the office buildings and high rise penthouse suites where the real power originated in the city. The mayor I'd find out was just a figurehead, the real movers and shakers of this city, and pretty much everywhere else that mattered, were those that led the vampire populations, and I had an appointment with one such group.

If my driver had told me that on the way there beyond the hint he had dropped earlier, I might have hopped out of the van, the sun be damned. I was in no shape, mentally or otherwise, to be talking to people like that, but he didn't say a word, and I didn't ask as we pulled into an underground parking garage. "We're here. Now, try to be respectful. These guys are not to be messed with, that's all I can say."

"What _can_ you tell me oh wise one?" I asked as I got out of the passenger side.

"That sarcasm might end up with you defanged, at the very least." He deadpanned right back, but the all too serious look on his face suggested he wasn't joking anymore. I had to swallow the lump in my throat at that as I did my best to keep my overactive imagination in check. A losing fight, but I tried as images of standing before a collection of dried up suck heads all looking down at me in dismay and disappointment before being consigned to some dark dungeon to rot for the rest of eternity. Writer's imagination for you, what can I say? "Just be polite and you'll be fine. They didn't dust you on the spot, so that means they don't mean to kill you today."

"That's comforting." I muttered as I followed my guide into an elevator some distance away from his van and stuffed my hands in my jeans pockets as the doors shut in front of us.

"Isnt it? Sorry to say, but I'm not gonna make you any promises I can't keep." He told me with a small shrug. "Oh and one other thing, no matter how some of them might act and look. Don't. Freak. Out."

"Why, do they have Nosferatu knock offs walking around?" Remember I said I was a nerd? I used to love Monster Movie night with my pops, before is run in with said telephone pole, and he had a thing for the classic horror romps. So when the guy next to me gave me a strange look, I could only stare back as an uneasy silence fell between us. "You're kidding right?" I finally asked, putting two and two together.

"As I said, don't freak out."

"They have, oh damn I'm screwed." I furiously whispered back. "Can't you take me out of the city before I offend someone and get my head ripped off or something like that? Please?"

"Sorry darlin', duty calls, and I'm just a delivery boy at the end of the day. I don't warrant high enough to ask for favors of any kind." Translation, he was only human, no better than cows are to those that run the slaughterhouses. "As I said, you'll be fine, just be respectful, and if anyone gives you any trouble, well, they have that right I'm afraid. They've been around a lot longer than we have, and they've earned every bit of disdain they might throw your way."

"Great, so I should expect to be treated like dirt, but as soon as I talk back, I'm screwed?" Great, my chances, which were already low to begin with, at least as far I was expecting, just dropped just shy of a negative five.

"Well, with some yes. Others though… not every vampire is an asshole. Some are really nice, and care about humans… too much in some cases." He said with a far away look before he put another smile on his face, though this one lacked any real cheer. "Now, I'm afraid I have to go, my kind isn't exactly welcome at these meetings." No sooner had he finished speaking that the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing a marble foyer that could have come out of some Victorian palace from the eighteenth century. When he made no move to come with me, I swallowed another nervous lump and stepped onto the hard stone floor, expecting someone in a red cape with a thick Transylvanian accent to come swooping out from behind one of the pillars on either side of the main hall.

Instead, there was only a set of intricate oak doors behind a lavishly appointed mahogany desk, where a receptionist was waiting to greet me. "Alexandria I presume?" When she looked up from the computer in front of her, the boredom on her face hardly faded as she took me in at a glance before she tapped a few keys on the keyboard in front of her. "First room on the right. They're expecting you."

"Thank you." I replied meekly and she merely rolled her eyes in annoyance. Which made me wonder if I would turn into a stuck up bitch like her too or if I would retain my personality.

"Fledglings." I heard her mutter on my way by. How she managed to put so much venom into that single word I didn't know, but I did my best to ignore her as I pushed my way through the doors in question, mindful of the fact I had probably just left enough dirt to mar the brass handles to the point no amount of cleaning would restore them to their original luster. Not that I cared since that receptionist had put me in a bad mood.

Turning to the right as instructed, I was once more disappointed my imagination wasn't living up to the reality since I had expected something….more, than a board room behind a plain wooden door like the ones I had passed through already. That said, I still found myself taking a steadying breath I didn't technically need, and just started to reach for the handle when someone came bounding out to greet me, her all too perfect teeth, and pale, alabaster skin much like my own, the first hints that made it obvious she was lacking a pulse.

"There you are my dear. Are you alright? I know it can be quite disorienting to wake up after the Embrace." French, accented, beautiful? Why did these guys have to be so damn ravishing and sexually stunning? But one thing I noted as the French woman, hair done up in a tight bun of platinum locks, her jaw pointed and cheeks sculpted to perfection, was that her eyes did not match the kind smile on her face. They were predatory and they weren't friendly as they fell on me and her full, pouty lips turned into a frown just as quickly. "Hmm….I had hoped dear Samuel would have made it a point to dress you in something more appealing, but we'll get that sorted out later I suppose. We have all of eternity after all. Come come, those among Clan Toreador must stick together my dear girl."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what a _clan_ is. Would you mind explaining it to me?" I asked her politely, chanting in my head that this wasn't too different than talking to customers at the bar.

"Oh yes, of course. My apologies." She had the decency to lose the frown, and that predatory gleam in her brown eyes disappeared about the same time. Manicured nails attached to long, slender fingers that were likely used to working a piano fell on my shoulder before I knew what was happening. "Before that though, you must be starving, darling. And we never did get introductions out of the way did we? What is this world coming to when I forget my own manners?"

 _I am the woman who is going to act all friendly until I have you where I want you to be, just like a spider lures a fly into its web._ I couldn't help but think with a barely suppressed shudder. "Alexandria, although most people call me Alex." I offered instead, trying to keep this little meet and greet as civil as possible. Even if all of my knowledge of the supernatural came from movies like Blade and shows like Supernatural, there were always a few common threads, and one of them Samuel had told me already. Meaning, this woman could probably gouge out my eyes with those perfectly manicured nails before I could begin to raise a hand against her.

"Charmed. You may call me Catherine, childe. Tis a pleasure to meet you despite these unfortunate circumstances that has brought you into the fold." Right, charmed, then why did I get the impression she was trying not to wrinkle her nose at me? Still, even if her kindness was feigned, it _was_ nice to talk to someone that knew what the hell was going on. Before I could say anything though, she turned on her heel, all regal perfection even if it was contained in a form fitting, smart business attire rather than a dress made of the finest silks I could ever imagine, and beckoned me to follow her into the room she had just come out of.

Catherine as she identified herself, led me to a group of other vampires, whose apparent leader didn't even try to hide his disdain for me. Given the look on his face when he looked at me, I could have been something he scraped off the bottom of his shoe, which said shoes probably cost more than my mother's house by themselves. His entire outfit just screamed old money, perfectly tailored to his imposing, tall form that had me thinking about all those guys you see on the front of fashion magazines, and not the drop dead sexy, smiling variety either. More like the unscrupulous, unrelenting, uncaring businessmen types that would as soon step on you like a cockroach as look at you. An immediate dislike began to form towards the man the longer I was in his presence. A dislike that only became more pronounced the moment he opened his mouth. "Yes, yes. You are confused and want to know what's going on and what's going to happen to you now. How tragic really. Now that we've got your complaints out of the way, we can discuss more important things. Like the rules you will abide to if you wish to live for any amount of time as a Kindred. The fact we're having this meeting at all in the middle of the day is bad enough, so you'll forgive us if we're not more welcoming." Yeah, I believed that asshole.

Catherine clucked her tongue in disapproval towards the man at the head of the long, metallic table as she sat down right next to me, whether I liked it or not. "Charles, darling, do be more polite will you? She is just as lost as we've all been at one time or another. It wasn't her choice to be Embraced, as you well know. Eliza was told she couldn't turn anymore people until next year, yet she disobeyed our directives. Hence, she was dealt with, as was our right and duty to do so. This is merely orientation, not an execution."

"Toreador waste." Another of the men on Charles' right muttered into his glass of what I at first took to be red wine, but given the setting and the nature of those around me, I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't wine he was drinking. Catherine's lips twitched at the slur but otherwise remained unaffected by the comment.

"Eliza… guilty heart… wishing to undo her sin. Night shadows, nightmare. Hahahahah." Another woman laughed, her pale skin even more pronounced than my own, and laughing in a way that would have impressed the Joker himself. Beyond that, she looked remarkably mundane in a black, low cut dress that looked more appropriate in a dance club than a board room such as this. Short, red hair pulled into a little ponytail, soft, pixie like facial features, and amber, if crazed, eyes darted about like two ping pong balls. Functional crazy might have been the best way to describe her, if a very loose definition was applied anyway.

"Peace Juliet….but our Malkavian friend is right." An asian, older gentleman said, situated on Charles' left side. Unlike Charles, the asian man's face was kind and almost inviting, a little too inviting. Slightly wrinkled and drawn skin, fitting his oriental origins, and little brown eyes that seemed to contain a great deal of wisdom and experience swept over the room at large before settling on me for a moment before moving back to Charles the Cunt. "Eliza's...soft heart was indeed at fault perhaps, but we all know her unfortunate past. While it is regrettable we had to take steps against her, she did at least leave a promising new childe for our organization. From what our techs have provided, Ms. Alexandria Watson is an exceptionally gifted young woman, she just needs refinement and time to adjust."

"Wait what? You hacked-"

"Yes Ms. Watson, we hacked into your private life. Get used to it." Another woman, this one looking like she belonged in a pro wrestling ring, or an MMA octagon, I couldn't decide which, grunted out at me. "It saves the more technologically adept among us time to get our more traditional members up to speed by taking the expedient route. So, yes, we had people hack your life. Now, unless you have something useful to say, shut it." Brujah bitch number one, and she wouldn't be the last of her clan I'd run into.

"Promising… angry, rage… voices, always voices… Eliza… regret without end!" Juliet moaned from the side, shaking in horror at whatever she was seeing.

"You will have to forgive Juliet, Eliza was a good friend of hers… she is quite shaken." The polite asian guy from before said and turned to tend to his still shaking friend. "Peace, Juliet." When his right hand started to glow bright red as he waved it in front of crazy pants, Juliet's frantically darting eyes stilled, and her distressed groans stopped. When she had calmed sufficiently, the asian man let his hand fall back into his lap, sans freaky light show. "There, that's better, yes?"

"Miss her still." Juliet groaned softly, but nodded, which seemed to satisfy the vampire at her side.

"I know childe." Sensing my utter disbelief at what I had just seen, the asian man chuckled sheepishly as red lightning danced across his fingertips. "Tremere, blood magic runs strong in my line Ms. Watson."

"Oh….good to know." Magic….genuine magic, and asian guy wielded it as easily as some people dealt out cards at a poker table. Good to know messing with a Tremere was a good way to end up dead most likely, or worse if my dark imaginings that had started back up with a vengeance were to be believed. To make it worse, the asian man only smiled knowingly, as if he had a direct line into my thoughts. It turned out telepathy is a real thing for certain clans, although I'm still not sure if the Tremere man in question actually had that particular gift or not.

 _He is going to make your blood boil!_ My brain was screaming at me, coming up with ever new ways of horrible deaths to keep my mind occupied. Not something that I would consider enjoyable no matter the environment, in front of vampire leaders discussing my fate, even less so. But Catherine's reassuring smirk made me relax, more than should have been possible at a glance, yet it did, and I wasn't about to argue with the results as the proverbial cold sweat that had started to form died just as quickly.

Charles chose that moment to start talking again, so it was probably just as well. "Yes yes, we all know Eliza was an unrepentant bleeding heart. That doesn't change the facts, she broke our laws, put our secrecy at risk, and has left us her mess to clean up, again. I say we are better off without people like her who disturb our carefully maintained status quo." And I say again, the Ventrue are assholes, and Charles was king of the assholes in New York. Not even twelve hours in and he was all too happy to spit on Eliza's ashes.

If not for Catherine's hand finding a place over my own as my nails started to dig into the table, I might have jumped the smug prick then and there, only to end up dusted for my trouble most likely. As it was, I still had to do a silent ten count before I was able to look at the man without wanting to disembowel him. I had gotten to know Eliza after all, before she had Embraced me, so hearing him talk about her like she was a piece of shit was not doing him any favors.

"Arrogance… fire! Burn, burn burn." Juliet began to laugh again and looked at Charles with a crazy look in her eyes, well, crazier. As I've said, Malkavians are all utterly batshit crazy, some much more so than others. Juliet would turn out to be relatively tame compared to some Malkavians I've met since.

"Now now Juliet, you can't burn him to ash just because he's a dick. Maybe later though, knowing him he'll give you plenty of other reasons in no time." The Brujah woman said with a smirk directed at the king of douchebags. Then she turned that smirk on me next, and whatever respect I had started to feel for her evaporated just as quickly. "So, what do we do with Eliza's ill begotten offspring? We already agreed we wouldn't execute her, otherwise our friends that raided her apartment would have dealt with her then and there."

"What we do with all newly Embraced, no matter their origins, Lisa." Charles replied, having since brushed off Juliet's insane ramblings and ignored the obvious threats to his person that were well warranted if I were any judge. "We see if she's worth keeping around. Get her set up in a safe house."

"Don't I get a say in this?" I dared ask, and wasn't all that surprised when Charles glared down at me as if he was only noticing me for the first time and didn't like what he saw at all.

"No." He hissed at me and narrowed his eyes. "And please remain silent while your betters converse." Well, I couldn't say Samuel, the 'ape in a suit', hadn't warned me about these people treating me like shit. Still, I bit my tongue and sat in silence as they talked over me as if I wasn't even in the room. But at least I had one, ally might have been a stretch, but Catherine's presence kept me still and my temper mostly in check as the proceedings continued without any further input from me.

I did pay close attention however as the rules were laid out in no uncertain terms, the biggest being as I've said before, not revealing our presence to the rest of society. Any feedings, supernatural acts, etc, had to be kept to the shadows or there would be hell to pay for the offender. To use their words, the Masquerade had to be maintained at all costs, and the Camarilla, the thirteen original bloodlines, or clans, not counting the Sabbat, the Anarchs, and the Antitribu of course, were the law of the land on all matters Masquerade.

As for the rest of the rules, they were pretty standard fare in comparison, and mostly common sense stuff I won't bother getting into here. Suffice it to say, by the time it was over, I was more than happy to have Catherine at my side as my fellow Toreador escorted me to a lounge area where the Tremere asian man was waiting for us. How he got there ahead of us I wasn't about to ask as Catherine let go of my arm and moved with refined grace to a nearby fridge, where I immediately felt my eyes be drawn to when the contents inside were revealed. "Here we are. You look like an A- girl." Yep, you guessed it.

Emptying the blood bag into a crystal wine glass that certainly fit the marble foyer I had passed through earlier, Catherine handed it over before pouring herself a glass. "Welcome to the clan, and the Camarilla, my dear. I do hope we get a chance to see each other again soon." I only nodded, my mind going in a thousand different directions as she toasted my health before taking a sip of her hemoglobin on the rocks. I did the only thing I could do and followed her example while our Tremere friend watched on, that knowing smile on his face doing my nerves no favors.

 **End Notes:** _And there you have it. The beginning of what I hope will be a regularly updated story. What I didn't mention before in the opening notes, is the reason this story began, beyond inspiration as a whole after watching Christopher Odd's walkthrough, lackluster as it might be as a whole. The beginning, regardless if you're playing the unmodded version or not, which allows you to play as the inverse of the Camarilla and the clans, as well as the sects involved on either side, just did not make any sense._

_You get Embraced, you get judged, and your character is totally okay with everything that's happened. Nomad and myself, while we're fans of the game, although he's actually played it, lucky bastard, called bullshit on that whole thing. Yes, I get that the game was never properly finished, so there's a lot of holes like that, but I was driven to make a more 'realistic' opening sequence as you've seen the beginning of. All that denial, rage, and everything else you've seen? That's also just the beginning since I don't believe the transition can be that easily, not by a long shot._

_As I've said before though, I've only recently gotten into the whole VtM scene, so any mistakes I make I apologize for in advance, but we have been doing what research we can as myself and_ _ **Nomad-117**_ _continue this little project, between a couple others we've been devoting our time to._ _ **Unharmonic Convergence**_ _on_ _ **Archer83**_ ' _s profile for example, as well as_ _ **The Eternal Effect**_ _on Nomad's side of things. Now there's this one. D Anyway, see ya folks! Let the Masquerade commence!_


	2. Give it Time

**Author Notes:** It's been a long time, and while I still don't have this finished on Fanfiction.Net, we DO have a fair amount of chapters there that, for whatever reason, I never uploaded here.  I'll try to get them uploaded in the weeks to come, but thank you for your patience and understanding.  While I didn't say it on Heed Our Voice's last update a little bit ago, a LOT of RL stuff has been going on for everyone on this end.  Archer83 had to quit the internet due to massive RL things going on, I've been fighting against depression and worse thanks to everything I'd been through and am still kinda going through, and Nomad has his own stuff on his side of the world that haven't made things any easier for him either.  All that aside though, myself and Nomad are still hanging in there, somehow, but we don't know how Archer's doing since he's been unable to contact anyone.  Still, that aside, we hope you enjoy these very late updates from us.

On a quick side note, Nomad and myself have started a few new stories, one of which was older one that's only on FF at the moment, a Diablo 3 and Mass Effect story called The Eternal Effect.  As for the rest, a Persona 5/Mass Effect story called Semper Ad Meliora, an NCIS and ME story called Alliance Criminal Investigative Service, and a Dragon Age/Young Justice story, a revision of Welcome to the New Age, called A New Age:  A Grey Beginning.  At any rate, see ya guys and gals, and thank you again for your immense patience and understanding.

**Chapter 2: Give It Time**

After the little meet and greet with the Primogens of the New York clans, Primogens being the oldest, most powerful members of the V club so there's no confusion for the rest of you, I was summarily escorted out of the lounge room and back into the parking garage, where Samuel was waiting for me. The relieved look on his face was a welcome sight for me, although I don't remember if I told him that in any shape or form. Doesn't matter now I suppose. Instead he ushered me into the van, and I handed him a piece of paper Catherine had handed me before I left the lounge, which Samuel soon had pulled up in the van's GPS navigator. "Yeesh, that's clear across town. Guess we're stuck together for a while longer."

"You make that sound like a bad thing." I shot back, a flicker of a smile pulling at my lips despite how tired and mentally exhausted I felt. Despite the Tremere Primogen and Catherine's efforts to make me feel welcome, there was far too much going on, too many things that had been thrown at me, that I just wanted time to curl up in a ball and cry my little undead heart out. More pressing than that though, I wanted to grab Eliza by her shoulders, or her throat, and demand to know why she had done this to me. I wanted answers and she was no longer around to give them, so that only added to my exhaustion and the swirling storm of emotions in my gut.

Samuel though, he wasn't blind, or dumb despite being 'only human', and let me sulk in silence once we had gotten underway. And the time spent as we chugged along in New York city traffic during the middle of rush hour was, ironically, very peaceful for me despite the loud blaring of horns and the curses of more aggressive drivers on every side. I tuned it out to the point, or I passed out, I don't know which, that the next thing I remember is Samuel backing the van into a darkened alleyway. Ever the vigilant caretaker, he even went so far as to pull out an umbrella, his grin making a comeback tour as he held it just so for me so I wouldn't get burned the moment I stepped outside. "And people say chivalry is dead." I said as I took his offered hand, slightly impressed I was able to bite back my first instinct to flinch away from the ever present warmth he gave off compared to my ice cold flesh.

"I like to make a lasting impression." He chuckled, and I couldn't see any discomfort on his face from the sharp contrasts between our temperatures. If not for the fact he had made it clear he had done this many times before, I might have wondered why he wasn't freaked out. It was just another reason why I couldn't help but like him, despite our rather….interesting beginnings with him shooting me and all. As for his chivalrous behavior, it didn't stop there as he opened the front door to the 'safehouse' that had been prepared for me, and promptly followed me inside once he had the umbrella folded up and out of the way. "Here we are. Home sweet haven."

Except I knew this building, having ignored what Catherine had written down, too eager to get out of that building as quickly as possible, now that I was able to look around without fear of being left out in the open. Vampires were not meant to walk around during the day, that's why we're always, nine times out of ten anyway, normally in bed once the sun comes up. Speaking from personal experience, I kept imagining pieces of my skin burning away if so much as a stray sunbeam touched me even through my clothing, so I was pretty jittery until we were inside, but now that we were safely indoors, I was able to relax. As for where we were though, apparently my vampire elders had a sense of humor, because the 'safehouse' they had set up was in my old apartment building, which led me to reasonably assume they had simply recycled my former home in the city to serve as my new haven. Charles' idea no doubt, the prick.

I had no way to prove it of course, but it just seemed like something he'd do, just to make a point. That point being that until I 'proved my worth', I was no better than the 'useless fledgling trash' he likely had put into a dustpan and swept into a waiting garbage bin, thus I should have a home equivalent to my worth. Or I was just in a really foul mood and it was coloring my opinion of everything. In reality it was a bit of both things, but whatever the case was, I didn't have it in me to argue the point further as I sullenly followed Samuel upstairs. Stopping at my assigned door, which was indeed my old apartment, I showed myself in while Samuel waited outside, ever the gentleman. I think I made it pretty clear by now my apartment wasn't much to look at, and given my mental state at the time, I could have had a cockroach parade running across the cracked flooring, and I wouldn't have batted an eyelash.

So I pulled him into what passed for my living room, a hand me down couch with a number of duct tape patches across its surface against one wall, and a small, giant rabbit eared TV that had a large backside, which barely functioned I might add, on top of a crooked stand against the other wall. Said wall had a large crack that led into the bedroom, allowing that cold draft I mentioned earlier, but as I also stated, I no longer noticed the cold. Take the wins where you can get them I suppose. Still, I let Samuel go when I saw the uncomfortable, slightly embarrassed look on his face as he shut the door behind him. "Sorry, I just….don't want to be alone right now." I told him, and he nodded in understanding.

"I gathered that." If I'm being completely honest right now, I don't think I could have made it through the day if not for him sticking around. I was a mess and he was the only person I trusted at all in this brave, dark, depraved new world I found myself in. Unsure what to do though, Samuel's gaze darted about the room as he struggled to find something to say, something that might make all this make some kind of sense. Bless him for trying, but nothing could make this better. Say what you want about the Toreador and how they use and discard people, Eliza was different. That's the lie I convinced myself of for the longest time anyway, but more on that another time. Bereft of my Sire, the woman I had started to love no less, bereft of my old life in a night of passion that was already starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth, I finally collapsed onto the couch that was about as lifeless as I was and broke down into incoherent sobbing. It was only when I saw the red teardrops that splashed across the floor that I realized just how far gone I truly was. If even my tears were as crimson as the blood I had been sharing with Catherine, then I truly was a damned, cursed animal in human skin. A wolf hidden in plain sight among the sheep, the perfect predator.

I didn't have it in me to flinch or recoil from Samuel when he pulled me against his side, steadfast, almost unbearably warm, and unmoving. The fact I was weeping tears of blood, that I was probably ruining his expensive looking suit, didn't seem to matter to him as he pulled me close so that my head was resting against his shoulder, a dangerous place to be since I _was_ a fledgling, but feeding was the last thing on my mind. Not that I could have stopped even if he had said something, but it was nice to know he cared far more about my wellbeing than his own appearance, or personal safety, Masquerade be damned in either case. Not that the other vampires would have shed any tears for him if I _had_ ripped out his throat that night.

It wasn't until he gingerly lifted me into his arms, without forcing me to move my head from his shoulder, that I realized we were moving. I didn't fight him as he carried me to my little single bed and laid me down on my side with the care of someone handling a porcelain doll. I felt broken though, empty, devoid of anything human, but the kindness was exactly what I needed as he pulled the heavy blankets up to my chin before sitting beside me. When he started to get up some time later, I stopped him by grabbing for his hand. He looked surprised for all of two seconds, before twisting his hand about so that he could gingerly wrap his fingers around my own. "Stay, please? Until...if...I fall asleep?" I remember asking him, and Samuel's response was to smile sadly and nod before taking his spot once more without complaint.

I don't know how long he stayed at my side, how long I remained in that state, weeping for everything that had been taken from me, but I do remember waking up several hours later. The only reason I know that is because of the digital clock at my bedside, which when we had walked in, or rather when Samuel had carried me to my bed, read that it was close to noon when he got me to bed, and when I woke up, it was closer to nine, going on ten.

I didn't _feel_ better though, but all that time sleeping helped all the same. I think I felt ready to start accepting everything, truly accepting what Eliza had done to me instead of just nodding my head and acting the part of a trained ape. It sucked, no pun intended, but there was nothing to be done about it, and as much as I hated what I had been turned into, I wasn't about to take my own life. Blame that on all those Sunday school lessons I got as a kid, but that was one thing I'm glad my mom beat into my head. While Christianity might not have as strong a stance regarding suicide, as say the Catholic variant, it's still there. Doesn't matter, but while the thought crossed my mind to stay outside until the sun came up, just burn away with the coming of a new day, I dismissed it just as quickly. Southern stubbornness runs very deep in my family. Besides, chances were I'd piss off the wrong nightwalker and end up getting dusted anyway. No such luck on that one, but it wasn't from lack of trying.

"You look like a mess kid." I immediately sat up, the blankets ending up in a pile at the end of the bed, but I didn't see anyone. Then I saw the shadows in the next room and realized someone was talking to Samuel. "Not your blood, the girl's then? Shoulda figured that'd be the case, can't blame her though. Sire gets dusted and she doesn't even get a chance to say goodbye. Least the last kid I met like her got a chance to look that suckhead in the face."

"How'd you even find us Jack?" Samuel asked, amazement in his voice but I didn't know why. "And besides, I thought you were still a wanted man after that fiasco in Santa Monica?"

"Allegedly Sammy! No one's around to say otherwise since LaCroix bit it." The redneck, and I've lived long enough in the southern states to be able to identify the accent, declared cheerfully before patting Samuel on his shoulder. "As for the kid, she disappeared, likely stirring up more trouble, and I say good for her! Our kind could use a good kick to the teeth." This was the first time I heard about the woman that had walked away from a clan war between the Anarchs, the Camarilla, and the Kuei Jin, despite having a blood hunt put out on her head by a power mad LaCroix, but it would not be the last, not by a long shot.

"I don't want to know Jack, just being around you is hazardous." Samuel groaned and hung his head, only to almost fall over when Jack laughed and slapped him on his back.

"Only for those suckheads that can't get their heads outta their asses kid. You're alright, 'specially for watching out for sleepy beauty all day." Jack said and jabbed his thumb towards my general direction, only to freeze before sticking his head into the doorway. He let out a surprised noise, but regained his composure just as quickly. "Sorry, hope we didn't wake ya darlin'." He said to me and had the good grace to look sheepish for potentially disturbing my rest.

I immediately took a liking to him and managed a smile despite that gaping maw in my chest, reminding me that I couldn't ever go back to being my former human self. "No, it's fine." I said instead of what I had wanted to say, and threw my legs over the side of my bed. "Just been one hell of a rough day."

"Can't imagine why, kid." Jack replied and rubbed the back of his neck before he and Samuel entered my little hovel of a bedroom. "You ain't the first and won't be the last, sucks but them's are the breaks."

Seeing Jack fully, I couldn't help but think of one of the smaller members of those hicks from Duck Dynasty. I'm not a fan, I value my brain cells, but my point being Jack was muscular, wild hair and bearded, yet something about his face was friendly and warm despite being one of the older vampires in the area. Clad simply in an open leather tan shirt that showed off his hairy chest more than it concealed, and tight, jean pants, he might not have been the most attractive guy around, but he was easy to talk to, which was the more important thing. He knew what was what better than most, and wasn't afraid to help newly Embraced like me despite being an Anarch, those that prefer their own rules to those of the Camarilla. That and while he had his opinions about the governing body of vampires, he didn't try and persuade me one way or the other when we first met, preferring to let me form my own opinion.

"Hey, I know I'm handsome but no need to stare darlin'." Jack teased, making me look away with an embarrassed snort which only made him laugh. "Haha, sorry but ya made it too easy!"

"Jack…." Samuel groaned, clearly uncomfortable with having a possible felon, at least among the vampires, in such close proximity. "You really shouldn't be here."

"Yeah yeah I know kid." Jack replied but made no move to go anywhere. "Just give me five minutes and you won't see me here again, scout's honor!"

"I doubt you were a scout in any lifetime." Samuel grumbled as he left the room in a huff.

"Yeesh, for being an errand boy you'd think he'd be less of a stiff."

"I heard that!" Sam called from the living room, much to Jack's amusement.

"That was the point!" He called back before shutting my door behind him with another cheerful laugh. It was only after our privacy was established that the wide, encompassing smile on Jack's face faded somewhat. "Seriously kid, you can't go wrong with Sammy. He's a good guy, he'll watch out for you better than any ghoul, helps he has all of his faculties about him though."

"So why are you here exactly?" I ask, in no mood to play games with anyone, this overly cheerful redneck especially, even if he had given me no reason to hate his guts. Still, my mood must have been apparent in my voice because Jack sat down, but not before dusting the seat of his pants off.

"Well it's like this kid. You're new on the block and since your Sire bit it, you're likely wondering what happens now. Normally your girl would have taught you what you needed to know to survive, but since she ain't here I thought I'd take up the slack."

"Excuse me if I find that hard to believe that you're here out of the goodness of your little black heart." I really shouldn't have said that to an older vampire, especially one that started that clan war I mentioned just by letting slip news about an ancient sarcophagus being discovered that might have contained an ancient vampire from the days of Caine himself, but remember I was in a very dark place. Rational thought didn't factor into it.

If I had hoped to offend him though, I was sorely disappointed when Jack just grinned in response. "I never said that I would help you out of the goodness of my little black heart, as you put it. I just love giving the new kids a kick up the ass and watch them stumble around, it's just too damn funny."

"Okay, I have no trouble believing that." I was forced to admit.

"Ha! Heard you were smart kid, glad to see that's the truth, should make this next bit easy then. Go get cleaned up, we got places to go darlin'." Before I could begin to protest, Jack had slipped out of my room and was whistling a merry tune with every step, leaving my door wide open as he went.

"Thanks?" I called out after him before flopping back onto the bed with a huff and a hand over my forehead. If I was still able to get headaches, I imagine I'd have had a real thumping migraine on my hands right about then. Seeing no better alternative, and since the night was literally mine now to do as I liked, I did the only thing I could do and got ready for whatever Jack had in mind. Picking through what passed as my collection of clothes, I just went with the first thing I laid my hands on, took a quick shower, more to clean up the blood stains from my crying my eyes out, and was out the door in fifteen minutes with Jack and Samuel waiting for me. "So genius, what happens now?"

"I thought you'd never ask. Sammy, warm up the car will ya? We got a hot date downtown."

"Do I look like your chauffeur Jack?"

"No but your hers until suckhead Charles says otherwise."

Samuel and I shared a look at that before he hopped into the driver's side with an annoyed grunt. "Don't remind me, when I started he wasn't the prince, and now… he is the crown prince of douchebags, long may he reign." The insincerity in Samuel's voice was sharp enough to dull a knife as he started up the van and soon had us going on our way with Jack shouting out the occasional direction. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one that absolutely hated Charles' guts though, and it did a little bit to pull me out of my depression, if only a little. Every little bit helped though as we drove into a part of town that looked more like a demilitarized zone than anything else. Every building was all but falling down, and most of them had at least one gang tag sign on its facade, while the alleyways were practically dripping with graffiti from across the years.

As for those few establishments that looked halfway decent, they were home to 'psychics', loan sharks, adult video stores, and more. Basically, this place was not a respectable member of society, vampire or human, would be caught dead here, but for a newborn like myself, it was the perfect proving ground. "Might want to keep that peashoooter handy Sammy, this ain't a place to let your guard down."

"Gee ya think Jack? You hoping we get shanked while we're here?" Samuel growled, his eyes darting up and down the street, his senses on high alert. Not that I could blame him since I could practically smell the fear, the oppression, and desperation in the air on every side. Not only that, but there was an air of hostility and malevolence, of danger around every corner, and while it wasn't directed at any one thing, one misstep and every person on the block would be coming after our blood.

"Ha! I'd love to see these fools try. Nah kid, but it is a good place for wholesale murder to happen and no one will so much as bat an eye." Jack said with a nonchalant shrug that did nothing to reassure either myself or Samuel. "Come on darlin', we won't be long if you're a fast learner."

"Gee, that's reassuring." Samuel muttered and rolled his eyes. "Which also means that if we disappear, no one will ever know, just great." Just as I started to turn back to stay right where we were, Sam shook his head and gestured for me to follow Jack. "I might not like this Alex, but he's right. You need to learn how to get a handle on this, and experience is the best teacher. That much we can agree on, even if I hate the idea of throwing you to the wolves like this. I'll be fine."

Hesitantly nodding to Sam, I blew out an annoyed breath and ran after Jack, who had since crossed the street and had started around a corner of a warehouse with a chain link fence around its perimeter. "So what are we doin' here exactly?" I asked once I had caught up with Jack. He smirked and pointed to the front of the warehouse, where I could see clear as day, despite it being pitch black, the street lamp having been shattered long before we got there, a group of people milling about. Seven of them, all of them bearing matching tattoos on their arms and carrying guns if my eyes didn't deceive me. And given my enhanced senses, I could clearly make out the imprints of them underneath shirts or tucked into their overly tight pants, one man even had his pistol stuffed into the front of his jeans, a bad idea if I ever saw one.

Having done my examination, Jack was more than happy to explain his reasoning when he saw my inquisitive look. "Word on the street is that these low lifes are part of a ring of smugglers, human traffickers for one of those human criminal organizations. Normally I wouldn't give a damn, since humans do their thing and we do ours, but I figure you wouldn't feel too bad about running through 'em as part of your trainin' and all. That and your humanity I figure is important to ya, especially since you're a member of the Rose, darlin'." It was here that his smirk died and he grew deadly serious. "Ever hear of the Beast yet kid?"

"Only riddles more than anything." I answered honestly, but even that much was making me nervous, and for good reason.

"Yeah, figured as much. Thing about this life of ours kid, we're driven to survive, but we don't have to leave a trail of bodies wherever we go. The Beast is only worried about survival at any cost, and killing without it being necessary, or just being an unrepentant asshole, tends to let it wake up and take over. Frenzying, a vampire who's lost all reason, is not a pretty sight, kid. But killing assholes like those human traffickers, or by someone shooting at ya first and you just defending yourself? That's another story altogether. No need to worry then about losing your shit."

"I don't want to kill anybody!" I protested vehemently, shaking my head in denial.

"Ah, it isn't that bad. Hate to say it kid but you're a predator now, so your psyche also adjusts accordingly, at least a little. So don't worry about nightmares and sleepless days. 'Sides, I didn't say you _had_ to kill these assholes." He patted my shoulder before continuing his explanation. "All those wonderful clans that think themselves above the rest have all kinds of nifty powers. Take the Toreador for instance kid. You have your very Presence, that undefinable allure that just makes everyone drawn to you like moths to a flame. Then there's the whole supernatural speed, Celerity, that is yours by right rather than learned by the rest of us poor suckheads. And last but not least, ya got your Auspex. You can see people's auras, regardless if they're human, suckhead, or somethin' else altogether. Of course, that's just the beginnin' of what you can do with those darlin'. Just wait until you gain some experience with them. Hehe."

Like many things, I didn't know what he meant then, but it wouldn't take me long to figure it out. Auspex alone would take what I thought I knew about my new unlife and turn it on its head as I'd begin to see what was behind the masks of those that had become a part of my life. More on that later, but needless to say, being able to read someone's mind, their very intentions, is both a blessing and a curse all its own, but when used correctly, it makes life a lot easier.

But that was for later, because when I looked up, Jack was gone. I looked around, frantic to find him, only to see the guy had gotten on the roof of the warehouse, a shit eating grin on his face. "You son of a bitch." I muttered under my breath, still not particularly eager to engage those human traffickers by myself.

Jack must have seen my hesitation, because a moment later, one of said traffickers got hit by an empty soda can, in the face, and the best part? It looked like I was the one who threw it. I was really starting to hate all those fancy vampire tricks, at least when they were used against me. And Jack's grin never faltered as the gun toting gang members turned their attention towards me. Oh I was not about to take this one lying down, which was exactly the point because anger, as it turned out, is a powerful catalyst when it comes to activating one's innate abilities. "You throwin' shit at us?" One of the men shouted, waving his gun hand about willy nilly as he did, no doubt trying to appear threatening. To me though, he looked utterly ridiculous, despite the very clear danger he presented to me. Taking my silence as a reason to get in my face, the apparent leader of six behind him tried to tower over me despite the fact we were the same height. "I asked you a question bitch. You throwin' shit at us?"

"It got you to come over here didn't it?" Later, after the adrenaline had worn off, I'd wonder where the fuck that had come from, as well as the sultry, seductive note in my voice for that matter, but at that time I was too pissed off at Jack and my situation in general to wonder. The guy waving his gun in my face blinked, feeling just as surprised as a little voice in the back of my head sounded, and took a half a step back. "Maybe I'm here to make a deal, ever think about that?"

" _You_? You don't look the type lady." The man said, and his surprise filtered to the rest of his little group. I'll admit, coming down to a gang infested neighborhood, looking like I belonged on the block in my unremarkable, plain shirt and black hoodie, didn't help with the image of having money to purchase a...servant of any sort, but I wasn't thinking clearly at that moment. That survival instinct of mine that Jack had hinted at had kicked into high gear, and that part was in full control, which translated to me being able to bullshit my way through this very dangerous situation.

I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all, which oddly enough helped my case with these people as I spread my hands and shrugged. "Please, it would look rather strange if someone with enough money to afford your services came down here looking like we actually had the money to purchase them, wouldn't it?"

"I guess you got a point there, so what the hell do you want lady?" The lead thug asked with what I guess he thought to be a charming grin, his gun returning to the back of his pants now that he thought the danger had passed. Oh if only he knew the danger was still very much right in front of him.

"I want to see your stock, to gauge for myself if my business wouldn't be wasted here. Then we'll talk, in private, about a going rate." I replied, and even went so far as to walk my long, pale fingers up the front of his shirt before grabbing his collar and pulling him close so that my breath tickled across his cheek. "I can be _very…_.persuasive." Overkill? Perhaps. But it got me in the door as if I had waved a stack of thousand dollar, nonsequential bills in the guy's face. My Presence was the real cause for my success, but I was too high on my success to care as the tattooed grunt before me grinned in response once I let him go.

Letting his eyes drink in my pale, covered curves and no doubt imagining all kinds of things he thought was going to happen before the night was over, he waved us all to follow after him. "I think I'm gonna like this. Let's go boys. Let's give the little lady what she wants." I will say this much, not every member of the man's entourage were stupid as one or two of them gave me uncomfortable glances, as if sensing something amiss with this whole thing, but they kept their mouths shut. Before I lost sight of the roof of the warehouse, I saw Jack bent over and silently laughing his ass off at how easily I had gotten in the front door before he disappeared, no doubt finding his own way inside.

I didn't notice his absence, because when we entered the warehouse, we soon passed through a back office, and went down into a warren of tunnels that ran the breadth and width of the block, likely much further, but my guides knew exactly where they were going. The sound of water in the distance caught my ear, but I didn't immediately register that amidst the mildew covered metal walls and rusty flecks of dust that floated on the stale air. It was the sound of quiet whimpering and soft cries that I could hear that had my full attention as we entered a large, sparsely furnished chamber that had been turned into a makeshift office space. The man behind the desk, which had a high powered computer situated on its top and an ashtray on his left side, waited to greet us. A large, metallic barred cage was just visible in a backroom behind the man, and it was here I saw the source of the feminine whimpering.

I was thankful I had stuck my hands in the pockets of my black hoodie, because I could feel my claws extending and soon enough, digging into the flesh of my pale palms. The pain gave clarity, but my anger was still present, and I had a target for my rage looking smug and proud of his work in this part of the city. Somehow I managed to keep an impassive look on my face though as I nodded my greeting to the ringleader of this illicit organization. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this meeting?" The man asked, oozing charm yet the dangerous gleam in his little beady eyes said he'd just as soon shoot me than deal with me if I stepped in the wrong direction and still be able to sleep soundly that same night.

"Dismiss the audience, and we can talk business." I replied with a confidence I did not truly feel, but my instincts were screaming at me to maintain my confident appearance. "I have no interest in bargaining with you in front of your little cronies."

"A woman that knows what she wants and isn't afraid to demand it." The man replied, probably believing, and perhaps even rightly under normal circumstances, that he could handle me alone. With a nod, the thugs dispersed and left us alone, while the man behind the desk stood to his feet in one fluid motion. Shit. He moved with the confidence of someone that wasn't a stranger to violence, but how I knew that I couldn't tell you, unless I had gotten a flash of insight from my Auspex. Whatever the case, I remained impassive as ever as the man held out his right hand. "I am the proprietor of this establishment, and if we're to do business, I would have your name."

"So you can hunt me down if things don't go as planned? No thanks."

"Caution that is no doubt warranted, but we are both civilized people here, are we not?" I shrugged but nodded before grasping his offered limb, and squeezed just shy of breaking every bone in his hand. He seemed far more impressed than anything though, and nodded his approval before he gestured to the seat behind me as he took his own once more. "So, what can my organization do for you?" The fact he treated this whole business like a legitimate enterprise instead of the horrific affair it truly was wasn't lost on me. Easier to trade in human lives if you objectify those same people you're selling. In that sense, human traffickers aren't much different from vampires, an irony that wouldn't be lost on me later.

"I heard from a friend you offer….an unique service for the right price. As I told your attack dog out front, I might be in the market, but I don't deal with thugs, I deal with the men in charge. Are you who I'm after, or do I have to find the _real_ mastermind behind this little clubhouse?" Really? I am unsure, even to this day, how I got out of this mess with my face intact, but that seemed to work because the suited peddler of flesh only laughed in response.

"You have much bravery for someone so fully out of her element, but yes, you are dealing with the one in charge. But how do I know you're not a cop?"

"Feel free to strip search me if you want, I might even enjoy it." That took the guy off guard because he had the decency to look slightly uncomfortable for all of two seconds as my eyebrows shot up to my hairline in quite the suggestive manner. The tilt of my lips probably helped in that regard as I crossed my right leg over my left knee, and even through my pants, my long leg was on full display. And he followed the movement like a snake being hypnotized by a charmer. I had him eating out of the palm of my hand, and I knew the reason why, and a part of me reveled in the power I had over this pathetic excuse of human flesh. "Besides if I were with the cops, I would have called them down on you by now. After all, I can hear your merchandise. Not that you did a very good job of hiding them."

"Hmph." Turning to face the backroom, the man shouted something in a foreign language, and the women in their cage immediately fell silent before turning to face me once more. "I would still have you searched, just in case, something that should have been done before you were allowed down here, but I suppose you have a point. Doesn't mean I won't take unnecessary risks however." Pulling out a wand, one that looked like it belonged to a security guard at an airport terminal, he ordered me to stand to my feet before he waved it over my arms, legs, and eventually both sides of my torso before seeming satisfied with the results. "No bugs, no weapons, you truly are brave to come down here without even a sidearm."

"I'm more dangerous than you believe." It was the only truthful thing I had said yet, but he took it as a bluff and chuckled in response. I went with it since it was easier in the long run.

"If you say so." He said patronizingly and smiled sickly at me. "So let's talk business, what do you need? And more importantly, how do you expect to pay?"

"I haven't even decided if I'm going to waste good money on you yet. Let me see what you have first." That it turned out was a bad idea for me, because the suited ringleader was all too happy to show off his 'fine selection'. Leading me into the backroom, he once more shouted in that foreign language and the women in the cage lined up as best they could against the back of the metal box, presenting themselves while trying not to look anywhere near our faces.

Whatever control I had, whatever restraint I had started to crumble at this mockery, at this farce of humanity at my side. I was the monster?! I at least had the decency to wear my curse on my sleeve. This piece of human _filth_ on the other hand sidled up to the innocent and the downtrodden, made false promises to give them a better life in the states, and then locked them away like pieces of meat, only to be sold to the highest bidder. Once more, I was glad I had kept my hands in the pockets of my hoodie as I feigned looking over the women before me, one of them barely past her sixteenth birthday, before heading back to his office to 'discuss' the rest of our deal. Oh I was going to pay alright, but my method of payment was not going to be to his satisfaction.

I fell back as he led the way back into his office, and made it a point to shut the backroom door, separating us from the terrified women in their cage. It was only then I noticed that he had installed soundproofing at some point, no doubt to keep the noise down from the 'products' in the backroom, while he and his cronies were busy talking about their budding criminal enterprise. Just as well, because even if he managed to scream no one would hear him.

The predator within me was already coming up with ways of taking him and his cronies out, something I needed to do if I wanted any of those people trapped down here to survive. Looking up to a nearby dark corner of the faux office, I froze for a moment when I saw Jack staring back at me, but that was followed by immense relief as he slipped into the backroom without the bastard behind his desk noticing a thing. That was one less worry on my mind, which meant I wouldn't have to hold back when the fighting started, and even the rational part of my mind was coming to terms with the fact we weren't getting out of this without a lot of blood being spilt.

"So, how do you wish to do this?" The man asked, completely oblivious to the danger as I let my claws extend this time, and stay extended in the confines of my hoodie.

"I can think of a few ways, none of them pleasant for you." Before he could begin to move, I was halfway out of my seat, and reaching for the front of the man's dark gray suit. He gave a short, pained gasp as my claws dug into his chest as I grabbed hold, and pulled him across his desk, scattering the few items that were between us.

"Wh-what are you?!" He gasped, far more enraged than terrified, but I could smell his budding terror as he met my gaze that unbeknownst to me, had started to lose their alluring blue eyed charm, only to be replaced by something darker, _much_ darker. Fumbling about for the gun he had on his right hip, my right hand grabbed his arm and slammed his hand onto the desk hard enough to snap something. He yelped but I had to give this guy credit, his tolerance for pain was better than I would have imagined.

"I'm figuring that out myself you sack of human shit." I hissed, my pale face contorting to something closer to an animal's as all that anger and rage started to take over, an image only enhanced as my canines lengthened and became pointed, prominently displayed from my upper teeth.

My instincts were demanding for me to drain him dry. While I wasn't hungry per say, I was far from full, so sucking on his arteries until there was nothing left was more than a passing thought, it was an appealing one. But I couldn't kill him, not right away. I would need as much money as I could get once his friends noticed that something was wrong. I wasn't stupid, I had watched enough cop shows to know how this would likely go, regardless if I killed this guy or not. Bullet wounds didn't heal themselves after all, well they kinda did, but they still needed blood to do so. That and having money would ensure I could buy myself something to protect my own hide, let alone anyone that was with me should the rest of this group were to track me down. To that end, I made it a point to keep the man's head pinned to the desk until I was behind him, before yanking him up by the back of his neck. "Now we're going to make a deal, except this is going to be very one sided."

"Fuck you." He spat out, all of that business school charm having flown in the face of having the tables turned. My answer was to smash his head against his desk.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that." I replied sweetly, but the hand on the back of his neck tightened its hold to the point I was sure if I applied any more pressure, I'd snap his neck like a twig.

He must have realized it as well because the next words out of his mouth were far more worried for his personal wellbeing. "What the hell do you want from me?!"

"Everything." I hissed in his ear. "I want every dime you've ever made selling your fellow man like pieces of cattle. I want the names of those you've sold to, addresses, places of business, I don't care. If you satisfy my demands, you _might_ walk out of this with the use of your legs." Movie inspired bravado, sue me. I was new at this intimidation stick.

But it got my point across, although my display of supernatural ability helped a great deal no doubt. "Might? What the hell? Do you think I am an idiot?" He growled out, a fresh bruise already forming on his cheek from where I had slammed his face into the unyielding desk.

"Yes, but that's beside the point. Point is that if you do what I say you have a _chance_ to survive, deny me and you will die for certain." I replied although the part about letting him live was a lie, I was far too enraged to let him walk out of here, but I also wasn't stupid. He'd seen my face, and Masquerade or not, I couldn't let him walk. But even if I didn't appreciate the importance of keeping my existence a secret, chances were Jack would have cleaned up my mess if I didn't do it myself. But as I said, I was too pissed off to think clearly, and it showed on my face as it twisted further in on itself, partly from the power of my Presence which inspired supernatural terror in the guy I had by the scruff of his neck, partly from my own undead nature.

So, what did he do? What do you think he did? He gave me everything, downloaded it all onto a USB drive and gave it to me without further complaint. As for the money, well, that was a little more complicated because I hadn't had an offshore account prepared for this part. I hadn't even anticipated needing one, how could I, or anything of the sort beyond my own meager holdings, and I wasn't about to give him my real name. Instead he set up a dead drop with one of his minions, shouting orders in that foreign language he'd used to silence the women in the back before I took his cellphone and stomped it under my foot once it was done. The people on the other side were probably suspicious, but I didn't care. I had gotten what I needed to make life very difficult for those that had used his services, and now it was just a matter of finishing the job here.

To that end, I dragged the whimpering mess of a man, my supernatural Presence still very much in effect as waves of terror rolled off of me as I ripped open the backdoor and we saw that the cage was empty. Jack had done his job, but I was too far gone to care. Throwing him into his own cell that smelled of shit, piss, and desperation, I bent the bars around the door just enough to ensure he wouldn't be getting out without a blowtorch. I wasn't done though, oh no. Spotting a gascan on a tool shelf, an idea started to form in my enraged mind. I was going to kill him while making sure he had just a glimpse of being trapped like an animal in a cage like those he had sold into slavery. Poetic, if you think about it, but it also went perfectly with the Toreador frame of mind when it comes to revenge and vengeance. Brujah might be fighters, feared soldiers and rebels, but they have nothing on a Toreador when it comes to getting sweet, sweet vengeance on their enemies. I didn't know this yet, but that sociopathic need to correct what I felt was a true, monstrous injustice wasn't entirely my own desire.

Not that it mattered. I had seen the proof of his depravity, his greed, and even if the cursed blood in my veins didn't demand his death, I might have gone through with it anyway. That and again, while I didn't fully understand the need of the Masquerade, of maintaining our secret, he had seen too much, so even if I had been in my right mind, I would have had to do something to ensure he wouldn't start running his mouth. So, I picked up the gas can, and brought it to the cage before beginning to upend the contents all over the cage and the ground around it. All the while the ringleader, the scumbag I had pushed around, whimpered and begged for his life.

It wasn't until he pulled out his wallet and held up a picture of his wife and two little girls that I stopped, frozen like a statue. That all that blind, driving rage faded away like a flame being smothered under a wet blanket. I stumbled back, and had to look away as if he had pulled a cross instead of a picture of his family, but it might as well have had the same effect despite the fact Samuel had told me that crosses had no power over vampires. I couldn't see him as a human being though, because doing so would ensure I didn't light the match on his makeshift funeral pyre. It didn't help that he was begging for his life, albeit in his native language, but I didn't need to understand him to know what he was saying as he waved his wallet, the picture tucked into the money clip on prominent display, as if trying to ward me off with the innocent smiles of his family. It almost worked too.

Until I stepped back and looked at the cage as a whole, and remembered why I was there in the first place. Of why I had lost my shit so thoroughly that I had been prepared to burn him alive. When I moved forward this time after tossing the gascan, now empty of its liquid accelerant, I snatched the wallet out of his grasp and tossed it aside as well before hissing as I closed the gap between us, my right hand shooting through the bars to grab him by the front of his suit once more. "You should have thought of them before you got into this business." Tossing him back far harder than was probably necessary, he hit the back side of the cage with a grunt, but I was already on the move. Finding a lighter was easy, since there had been a card game within easy reach of the cage, and picking up the forgotten item, I flicked it on, ensuring the piece of scum in his own cage saw his death coming before I flicked my wrist. The lighter flew from my pale fingers as I left the backroom the same way Jack and the girls had already taken, but I didn't get out of there before the screams started.

It was easy to follow their trail since the stink of the humans Jack had let free wasn't hard to miss in the dark, nearly pitch black tunnels. Even as the ringleader's screams were joined by those of his cronies as they tried to save him, only to get caught in the blaze themselves, I trudged on, determined to put as much distance between me and that dark place as possible. The darker side of my nature was cheering my success, of having so utterly destroyed that piece of human filth and his operation, while my far more human nature was sickened, appalled, and disgusted with what I'd done down there, and it was that side of my nature I was giving ground to as I stumbled out of the tunnel after climbing a flight of stairs. I dry heaved and whimpered as I collapsed to the ground to my hands and knees, torn between wanting to scream and break down into self loathing induced sobbing.

It didn't take Jack long to find me as he gave me a sad and understanding look. "Sorry, but you had to understand."

"Understand _what_? That I'm a monster now?" I wailed in emotional agony. "That I have this...thing inside me that demanded I burn that place to the ground?!" Even though the fire had yet to spread to the surface, the smell of smoke was starting to fill the air, and I was sure I could see the flickering of flames in the few windows facing our direction.

"No, you're just no longer human. Doesn't mean you're a monster though. That's up to you." When he knelt down next to me, Jack nodded to where we could just make out the sounds of police sirens in the distance. "You coulda killed them all kid, but you chose to get those girls outta there first. I just followed your lead. Figured that'd be what you wanted, and I was right. Nah, a real monster wouldn't have given two licks about those girls. Hold onto that spark kid, it'll get you farther than most of the suckhead society will ever believe."

"How? I just burned them all to ash, I-I can still hear their screams, and the worst part is a part of me feels like it was justice!" I shot back, unable to believe his words. "How can I even walk among humans without endangering them?"

"You manage with Sammy just fine don't ya?" I started to open my mouth only to shut it since he was right, but that wasn't the point, or so I wanted to shout at him. Before I could argue the point though, Jack stood to his full height and held out a hand to me, which I batted away. He nodded, seeming unsurprised by my actions, and shrugged. "Yeah, we're all monsters kid, but we're still people. Some of us just want to get by best we can like anyone else, but I'll admit, most vamps aren't exactly pillars of the community. People like you though, the girl I helped out in Santa Monica, you're the ones that make this whole thing worth it to old Jack, because you actually try to keep hold of what makes ya human. Most people who get Embraced are all too eager to dive headfirst into their more predatory natures, and then you get assholes like Charles running things, willin' to stab each other in the back just to get ahead of his peers. Those are the real monsters kid."

Something about the way he said that reminded me of what I had ran into in that slaver's den. I was still emotionally destroyed perhaps, but something about what Jack had said made sense. Who knew how many people that man had stomped on to get to where he was, of how many lives he had shattered. He would have made a good vampire, to say the least, if Embraced by the likes of Charles, a Ventrue fuck if there ever was one. But more importantly, I had gotten a glimpse of a truth vampires knew better than anyone. You didn't need to be a true monster to be one. Meaning, he might have only been human, but he was more monstrous than I was, something I had started to understand in those moments of clarity I had had during my rage while I had begun to set up his pyre. It didn't help my mood, not right away, but it got me back to something resembling rational thought.

"We should get out of here." I decided as the police sirens got louder as they grew closer. I could make out the distinct sound of a fire engine coming our way as well, but it didn't matter. We'd be gone well before they got there.

Jack nodded in approval and offered a small smile. "That's the spirit, enough of this touchy stuff. Let's get out of here." I didn't respond, instead I simply pushed myself to my feet and raced away as best I could with Jack easily keeping pace. Before long, we were back by the van, and a much relieved Samuel was there to greet us. "Sammy, glad to see you kept the van warm, kid."

It wasn't until we got close that I heard the police scanner. Why Samuel had a police scanner in his van, I didn't bother to question. I just went with it as radio chatter filled the silence, until Samuel turned to face Jack head on, his hand straying to the pistol at his side. Not that it'd do him any good, but the gesture wasn't lost on either of us. "Cut the shit Jack, what did you do?! Wait, let me rephrase that, what did you set into motion this time?!"

"I just pointed our friend in the right direction. She's the one that lit the match." Jack said and shrugged in response. Even as he threw me under the bus, although it was also the truth, he also looked almost apologetic for what he had instigated since make no mistake, he had instigated it. He'd known full well what he was doing and it had played out pretty much as he'd expected and hoped. "She did pretty good too, got into that slaver's den without so much as scratching someone's eyes out, and had yours truly get a cage full of girls out of danger while she took care of business."

Samuel raised an eyebrow but didn't relax his grip on the silenced pistol on his side until I stepped between them. "He's right….I did it. I burned the place down." I admitted, and almost sagged under the weight of all I'd done in the last half hour. Nevermind I had balanced that out by ensuring those women had gotten out of danger first, I still murdered those people. It didn't matter they had been perfectly willing to sell people into slavery, a fate worse than death in some respects, their blood was still on my hands, and a part of me still reveled in it.

If I had expected Samuel to be repulsed by my actions though, I was once more disappointed and surprised as he relaxed and shook his head before glaring daggers at Jack. "And this is why I didn't want you anywhere near us Jack. You knew exactly how this would play out, and you watched the fireworks. That's what you do. Charles _is_ going to hear about this."

The threat, and that's what it sounded like to me even then, didn't have any effect on Jack as he chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Go ahead kid, I survived this long, outlasted LaCroix and a few other suckheads like him. What's one more?"

"You think I'm gonna rat you out?" Samuel asked in disgust and shook his head. "I won't, because while you might be an ass, I won't be responsible for a blood hunt on your head. Unfortunately for you, I won't need to. Do you really think that arrogant ass got into his position because he was retarded? For all his arrogance, he knows how things work, I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't already aware of your presence." Shaking his head in disgust once more, Samuel sighed before ripping open the passenger side door for me. "I am going to say this though Jack." He began as I climbed into the van. "Come near us again, and I'll do more than shout your ear off."

Jack remained silent as we drove away, but as we started to turn the corner, I saw him give us a jaunty wave before we left him behind. It wouldn't be the last time I'd see the powerful Anarch vampire. Samuel meanwhile was silently fuming behind the wheel, once more surprising me because I got the impression he was angry at himself for allowing Jack a chance to get under my skin as he did, even if the vamp's intentions had been noble….ish. Even though Jack _did_ end up giving me the skills necessary to make it through my first week, and the nights afterwards, it wasn't without purpose, but more on that later. Let's just say those slavers we torched, or more accurately those slavers Jack had pointed me at, had friends, a lot of friends.

But I was beyond caring, my hands shaking as I stared dumbly at my pale digits. The flecks of blood from having dug my claws into that man's chest disgusted me more than anything, a reminder of what I'd done even if, again, it was well deserved in their case. Samuel at least knew what I needed, even if it was the last thing I wanted as we pulled up to a hospital, of all places. Pulling into an empty spot in the parking garage, he shut the van down before producing a handkerchief from his person and handed it to me. "I'll be right back. You need a drink, and I doubt throwing a person at you right now would help." That got my attention, having never heard that someone could swing by their local blood bank and make a withdrawal, rather than a deposit. Seeing my incredulous look, Samuel managed a small chuckle. "It's not exactly takeout, but it'll get you by in a pinch."

The joke got a weak, much needed laugh out of me. "Think you can get a bloody mary for me while you're at it?" I shot back, which earned a relieved snort from my caretaker.

"I'll see what I can do." He countered as he got out before turning to face me, half in and out of the driver's side. "You're going to be alright Alex. Just give it time." I nodded, unable to do more than that as Samuel left to pick up a bag of blood for me. I have no idea how I'd have made it without him. I know I've probably said that before, but it's the truth.

On that note, I had no idea how he dealt with this world of the supernatural, or how he was even introduced to it, but he seemed to navigate it with ease. He wasn't a direct part of it, he wasn't even a ghoul after all, but from his place at the sidelines, he saw a lot of things that most others failed to see. Whatever the case might have been, Samuel soon returned, a white plastic hinged box, which gave me the mental image of him carrying a box from Pizza Hut or some other fast food place, under his arm which he soon enough passed to me as I handed over the handkerchief about the same time, having gotten my hands clean as much as possible while he'd been gone. As promised, there was at least two, good sized transfusion bags inside, cold and fresh right from the freezer. At my renewed incredibility, Samuel shrugged in response. "They were out of bloody marys, so I got the next best thing." Was his reply before he sighed. "I think it goes without saying the Camarilla has a pretty wide, very long, reach."

I had no idea just how far that reach went, but I was going to find out in the days to come. Drawn out of my thoughts when his cellphone went off, Samuel sighed, answered it, and had the van started as he carried a conversation with whoever was on the other end. "Yeah we'll be there soon." Putting his phone down, Samuel blew out an annoyed breath. "It seems your trial has been decided. We'll to head to Catherine's penthouse. Better drink up, you're gonna need it." Great. Could this night get any worse?

Here's some advice, the moment you think that it can't, you'll be proven wrong every time.

 **End Notes:** _We seem to have a thing for punishing our characters at every turn don't we? I do apologize for the rather dark turn this took, but it seemed appropriate to have a 'tutorial level' of sorts with ol Jack playing the part of helpful 'guide', while also pushing his own agenda further, whatever that might be. On the other hand, this IS set within the World of Darkness setting, so that's to be expected I imagine. At any rate, we hope to see you guys again. Adios!_


	3. Devil In The Details

**Chapter 3: Devil in the Details**

Toreador estates, and their penthouse variants, are pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world. The architecture might change, but the beauty of their homes remain the same, and trust me, when you've had a couple centuries to accumulate wealth and art from around the world, some created by your own hands, there's no mistaking a Toreador home. Catherine's place was no different, but her poison of choice was music. Everything from Bach to Beethoven to Mozart, didn't matter, she had it all, and the instruments to match all of the great composers' greatest moments in their careers. And I noticed as once again, Samuel was 'politely' asked to stay downstairs in the lobby of Catherine's building while I was told to head to the top floor by the security guard.

Problem with being a Toreador, beyond the fact we have a sociopathic tendency for revenge that makes the Brujah run the other way, we notice art, beauty, and while it's purely subjective on the person involved, we tend to get lost in whatever we find beautiful. And when I say we get lost, I mean we literally get lost, sometimes for hours at a time. It's because we remember what it is to be alive, to feel warm, to breathe, to….feel human. It's our curse, kinda sad honestly, if you want my opinion. As much as I loath what I've become, I also respect it for what it's done, even if the vast majority of the 'suckheads' as Jack calls them are worse than that flesh peddler I put to the torch in one way or another. There are good ones though, like that vampire that took down LaCroix, in a manner of speaking, Jack, to an extent, and several others, but overall? Don't trust a vampire, some much more than others, especially if they're part of certain clans. The Antitribu, the inverse of the Camarilla clans, are the best examples of who not to trust, at all.

But getting back on track, finding myself in Catherine Boudreau's living room, and that was a pretty big understatement, given the size of her home at the top of one of New York's most expensive districts in Upper Manhattan, was like going back in time. The walls were covered in everything regarding the classics, pictures of the men themselves, their sheet music, original copies I've been told, put behind protective glass cases, set on stands, you name it. And as I said before, she had every instrument known to man, although she favored those you'd find in the opera houses of Paris, Sicily, places of that nature. I did find it curious later on that no one among the vampiric community got into the eastern continents much, but I wasn't aware of how dangerous China, Japan, etc, were to our kind. Few people among the undead community that goes to the East ever came back, so we avoid them like the plague.

However, my mind was far from such thoughts for I was occupied by the enchanting piano music that was echoeing down the hall towards me. I could not claim to know who the composer of this particular piece of music was or even its name, but at that moment I didn't care. I was drawn to the origin of the delightful sounds like a moth to the distant moon. The sounds led me to a door that stood ajar, light shining from the room which illuminated a small strip of the corridor I was in. I carefully pushed the door open and peeked in. Catherine stood next to a piano, grinning like the cheshire cat, wearing what appeared to be bathrobe, her hair down around her shoulders like silver, lustrous waves. And given the contented, pleased look on her face, I hazarded a guess that she had enjoyed more than the man's music talents, and I couldn't blame her given the guy's appearance.

For some reason a mere glance at him sent a shock of sudden desire through my body, in the most carnal way possible, and to make matters worse said man looked up and gave me a devilish smile. This caused Catherine to look up as well, though her smile lessened upon seeing me. "Ah, you are here… a bit earlier than I expected to be honest but no matter, I thank you for your haste." She said and made sure that her bathrobe was held in place as she moved closer to the grand piano, as if to silently convey that he was off limits to me.

"Oh, I wish she would have gotten here earlier. Why haven't you called her earlier my dear Catherine? We could have had so much fun together." The man said with a british accent, the grin never leaving his face. Apparently he either missed Catherine's possessive stance or he honestly didn't give a damn.

Whatever the case might have been, if I'd still been able to blush, I would have turned bright red at the shameless innuendo he placed in that statement. So I did the only thing I could do. I coughed and looked away uncomfortably, especially since a part of me was screaming at me to jump his bones right then and there, and damn the consequences.

"You have to forgive him, he puts things more bluntly than most people, but he is just such a talented piano player that I couldn't help myself and invited him over."

"Oh, Catherine! There is no reason to lie. You invited me because you wished to be taken in the most passionate way possible and I was the only one who could do that for you." He said, his eyes glinting in amusement. "Certainly made the trip worth it. And what is your name my dear?"

"A-Alexandria Watson, but I go by Alex." I stammered out, amazed that I'd been able to speak with such an open invitation just thrown into the air as if he were talking about the weather rather than having a threesome with two very dangerous vampires at the same time.

"It is such a pleasure to meet you, Alex." He replied and emphasized the word pleasure. "Perhaps we could get to know each other better before I have to leave?"

Despite my rampant case of wanting to rip his clothes off, I was fast recovering and managed a smile in return. "Sorry, but you'd be disappointed to know I'm not that interested in men."

That seemed to intrigue him more than turn him off for some reason as his eyebrows shot up to his hairline, that wicked grin only widening further. " _Really_? Well, should you ever change your mind, please do come visit me in Los Angeles. I am the owner of the Lux. Nice little place, I'm sure I could facilitate you quite nicely."

"I'll keep that in mind." I replied and gave him a shy smile. "Although, I never got your name." Ugh, what was wrong with me tonight?! You'd think I had never burned down a den of slavers with the way I was all but drooling over this guy that I had only just met! To make matters worse, I was pretty sure I could hear Catherine grinding her teeth in the background as the guy fawned over me. She was not going to let me forget this even if he'd started it.

Now his own grin stretched into that of a cheshire cat and the amusement in his eyes was more evident than ever. "Of course, how rude of me. I am Lucifer Morningstar." He took my hand and placed a soft kiss on the knuckles. "And believe me my dear, the pleasure is all mine."

My heart would have stopped beating if it hadn't already at the smoldering look he gave me along with his charming smile. Though no matter how charming he was and how much I wanted to throw him down and take full advantage of him, something warned me that this guy was dangerous, far more dangerous than any entity I have met so far or would likely ever encounter.

"L-like the devil?" I managed to gasp out instead, rather flustered by the whole ordeal.

"The very same." Lucifer said and graced me with another smile that made it all the harder to resist the temptation. I have nothing against men, I just had never found them all that interesting, yet one look from him and I was ready to throw myself at his feet? What was this about?! Not that I cared in that particular moment, too lost in that smoldering look that had all of my nerves singing in joyous rapture just from being in his presence. If he could do that with a look….well, I'm sure you get the idea. "Like I said, if you ever change your mind…" He left the rest of the sentence hanging and turned to Catherine. The building anger behind her eyes disappeared in a flash when he turned to face her fully, and she was all smiles once more. "My dear I will take my leave. A lovely detective is waiting on my triumphant return and I fear I've lingered here long enough. I'm sure you two have a lot to discuss anyway. If your guest wishes to join us afterwards I would most certainly not object."

Oh I bet he wouldn't. Catherine, who had a hard time keeping the smile on her face, most certainly would though. "I'll keep that in mind." She managed to press out without sounding close to a jealously induced frenzy. "I shouldn't be long, this will only take a few minutes… afterwards we can continue our own… discussion."

Picking up his coat, Lucifer shot me one last grin before leaving us to our discussion. I had a bad feeling however that Catherine was in a far more murderous mood. I wasn't far off the mark either, but she didn't lash out, at least not directly, that wouldn't have been very Toreador like after all.

Instead, she swallowed that jealous rage of hers and sidled up to the piano, cool as you please. "It's so good to see you, how was your first day as a Kindred?" She asked me with a smile, although I felt like she was asking me why hadn't I choked on something and died yet.

Deciding to play it her way, I simply smiled and shrugged. "It could have been worse I suppose." It was probably better to not mention that whole burning human traffickers thing, but I didn't want to mention that to anyone anyway. "Samuel said that you wished me to undergo my first trial?" I asked instead, hoping to steer the conversation to the matter at hand lest one of us bare their fangs.

"So I did." She said with another grin, though this one lacked any kind of warmth. Which was really unfair because Lucifer had been flirting with _me_ , not the other way around. Just my luck that the first man I find attractive was getting me into trouble without even trying. "I'm sure you will do _just_ fine." Right, that's why I don't think you're about to send me on a suicide mission of some kind. Whatever I might have said to that, Catherine didn't give me time to ponder as she turned on her heel and walked to a nearby cabinet, before pulling down a folder from the shelf. Coming back to the piano, she let the vanilla folder slap down on the black surface and slid it over to me. Inside was a picture of, and I kid you not, a Stradivarius violin. An _original_ Stradivarius. I might not be a music lover like Catherine, I might not have understood its true value as she did, but even I know how treasured such a violin was, how much they're worth. Because as much as my mother might have been a bible thumping religious zealot in her way, she also had a thing for music, and she had often told the tale of having seen a Stradivarius during a family trip to Europe when she was a girl herself.

"So what do you want me to do with this exactly?" I asked, once I had taken in the picture of the violin, the papers attached telling of its authenticity, among other details of the same. Where it had been found, its history, and how much it had cost her to acquire it, and my god was it expensive. It was no surprise she had been able to afford it, but that wasn't the point.

Catherine gave a world weary sigh in return as she crossed her arms over her chest without so much as wrinkling her bathrobe. "It was stolen from me before I was able to add it to my collection. I know who has it, but not where they're keeping it. I paid for it, had it ready to transport to my home here, and it was taken once it reached New York. Not only is it a rare and valuable antique from an age past, but it's the principle of the thing itself. I cannot let this theft stand, so I want you to get it back, and deal with the thief, _permanently_."

And this is why I hate vampire politics. They're no better than humans when it comes to snubbing each other. Except vampires aren't afraid to kill each other if it suits their purposes, like an undead version of the Game of Thrones if you want a modern comparison. And fledglings and ghouls and their lesser servants always ended up getting the shit jobs like this. The reason's simple. We have no allies, no one to call on to help us if we get into trouble, and no one respects us or expects us to survive long enough to become problematic, our elders can use and dispose of us as the need arises without consequence in most cases. Anything we do can be blamed on our own 'poor judgment'. Like sacrificing a pawn in chess, just that a pawn is usually regarded as more useful than a fledgling since it is the most adaptable piece on the board.

And even then I knew I couldn't tell Catherine no even if I wanted to, and I about did since I wasn't stupid. Instead I sighed, read over the pertinent details of the item I was being 'asked' to retrieve, before looking up to the Queen Bitch herself. "Alright, who has it and where should I start looking?"

The cheshire grin made a comeback, and this time, it was leveled upon me. "That's easy, darling Alex. Some of these disgusting Nosferatu have dared to trespass into my domain… they were good, but overlooked some things. I have pictures of them, fledgling fools that they were, save for their more experienced elders. I want you to find these fledglings, get them to talk, and then dispose of a few. That should make clear that I will not be trifled with."

"I'll do my best." What else was I supposed to say?

"Excellent, in that case I will expect that you will not disappoint." Catherine said and looked at me in a way that told me that I would prefer a Final Death rather than her getting her fingers on me should I fail.

"I'll do my best." I repeated more firmly, though for a very brief moment I considered defying her in some way… probably by saying I wanted in on the bedroom fun with Lucifer. Which would have been a really bad idea, so I thought better of it, and so I kept my tongue in check by some small miracle. I did breathe a little easier even as another little pleasant tingle shot down my spine when I saw Lucifer leaning, casual as you please, against the side of the elevator when I left Catherine's home. "Lucifer?"

He chuckled and nodded just as the elevator opened and allowed us to board. Good god, what had I gotten myself into?! "Going down?" He asked, smug and looking as if he already knew the answer, which of course he did since we were already on the top floor.

 _Smug, insufferable… sexy, and incredibly… where was I going with this.. Ah yes! Bastard!_ I managed to think halfway coherently, while I nodded in reply. As for the elevator itself, it seemed to be taking forever to reach the ground floor, and the uncomfortable silence between us was doing my nerves any favor.

"Now my dear, one last thing." He said as the elevator slowed. I turned to him when he didn't immediately continue and locked eyes with him. "I'm curious, what do you desire?"

Say what you want about a Ventrue's ability to Dominate someone into doing what they want, or a Toreador's ability to draw everyone to them with their Presence, or to repel them with such force that they run away screaming, but this guy… it took me less than the quarter of a second to break. "Y-you." I stammered against my will, more than a little mortified by the confession, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Many do, so that's not unusual. I'm walking heroin, it doesn't end well. No, I'm after something deeper. Something that you want so bad but don't want anyone to know." He said his grin slowly broadening as he looked at me.

What I said next shouldn't surprise anyone by this point since again, whatever this guy was, whatever he was doing to me, it was working and I couldn't resist his power even if I had been an elder vampire. "Eliza…" I whispered in a small voice.

Intrigued by my answer, Lucifer leaned over me, one hand above my head as he put his weight against the wall. "Who is this Eliza? What do you want from her?" He pressed on though he did so gently. Even though he was gentle, he was more compelling than even the most powerful vampires I have met since or have ever heard about. No surprise, given who he was, but there's no need to spill the beans on that revelation just yet. Especially since I very much wouldn't have believed it at that point, no I only heard the truth later and I didn't believe it for a very long time.

Anger boiled up as I saw her face flash before my blue eyes. Of all the things she had taken from me even as a part of me had wanted her to do so much more than she had. "I want to know why she did this to me. I want to rip her face off, to make her feel even a shred of this anguish she's left me with." I spat out through teeth clenched so tightly I was surprised they didn't break before I felt my anger just fade away, only to be replaced by loss so profound that I'm surprised that I didn't break down again. I had no more tears to shed though, but that didn't stop me from speaking anyway. "I….want to hold her again, to know she's still there, but she _isn't_. She was dusted and I didn't...I couldn't even say….damn it what are you doing to me?!" I shouted, and whatever hold he had over me disappeared but I wasn't aware of it as I pushed him away.

Given my vampiric strength, he should have been crushed into the elevator's side and severely dented it, or at least broken some of his bones on impact. Lucifer however merely stumbled back a bit, probably more out of surprise by my sudden aggressiveness than my actual push. He recovered just as quickly though and brushed off a speck of imaginary dust from his right shoulder. "I have a talent to draw out the secret desires of people. Keeping all of that pent up is quite unhealthy you know?"

"And living through this agony is?" I snapped back, fully aware he was in the know by this point so I didn't have to hold anything in check. He'd been banging Catherine after all, so it was pretty safe to assume he knew exactly what we were.

"Even though it doesn't feel like it, yes. Because now that you have admitted it to yourself you can better deal with it. Otherwise it could have destroyed you." He replied, any sign of cheer gone, completely serious for the first time since we'd met. "It would be a shame to see you wither away because of something like that."

The doors opened a moment later with a loud ring and I looked at them, startled by the sudden interruption. When I looked back Lucifer was gone, disappeared into thin air as if he was never there to begin with. Except he was waiting by the front door, his smile subdued but still there as he waited for me to catch up, holding the door open for me no less. I slowed my walk so that I could glare daggers up into his face, but beyond that I did nothing, said nothing else to him since he had already proven how dangerous he was in the elevator. If only I knew what else he could have done if he'd been in the mood, I might not have been so quick to hiss in his face on my way by. They say Hell hath no fury more powerful than a woman scorned, well, they haven't met Lucifer Morningstar.

"Well my dear, this has been a most fascinating night. Good luck on whatever errand Cat's sent you on. Perhaps we'll meet again?" He called to my back, only to frown when I shot him the bird over my shoulder. "So naughty, my kind of lady! The people you meet when you're undead, need I say more?" I turned to look at him, for some reason shocked that he so casually mentioned my unliving life conditions. "What? You thought I didn't know?" He asked directly and started to laugh. "Oh that is just too good, I am definitely keeping my eyes on you my dear."

"Please don't." Was what I said, but my more instinct based side screamed 'hell yes!'. Still I rolled my eyes at him, doing my best to act as disinterested as I could, which wasn't saying a lot in his presence, but still, I tried. This time when he disappeared when I was busy blinking I wasn't even too surprised, I had come to expect something like this by then. The black convertible that rolled by out of the parking lot, Lucifer behind the wheel, didn't surprise me either as he shot me one last smug grin before driving off into the night. I remembered that he had said that he would wait for Catherine… and then he was in the elevator with me and left at the same time… I was so screwed.

With a tired, drawn out sigh, I stomped my way to Samuel's van, my mood as dark as ever, and slammed the door behind me that I was surprised I didn't bend it out of whack. Thankfully I hadn't broken anything, and grumbled out an address to begin the search for Catherine's damned violin. The sooner we got this shit done the better, preferably without anything else weird happening to me. No such luck on that part, but as I said last round, just when you think it can't get any worse, life will find a way to stiff you, and not in a fun way.

Going after the Nosferatu isn't like going after the Ventrue or the Toreador or even the Giovanni. They're monsters in appearance, so they can't, under the rules of the Masquerade, make any public appearances. As such, they tend to stick to the shadows, the sewers, abandoned buildings, places most people avoid like the plague. That's not to say they act like monsters however, they're oddly enough some of the nicer people you'll meet, well...most of them are anyway. Some make it a point to turn people they feel deserve to become hideous monsters themselves because they're too vain, too beautiful, things of that nature. The Samedi, a dark variant on the Nosferatu clan, aren't so kind though, and they're more monstrous in appearance than the Nosferatu are, but that was neither here nor there. The Nosferatu I was after were like me, fledglings, and so luckily they hadn't mastered their clan's ability to blend in with the shadows on command. They still weren't easy to find though.

Indeed, it would be most unpleasant to find them, I would have to go into the sewers and look, and I doubted that the other Nosferatu would be too welcoming to my appearance, especially not with me being sent to kill some of them. Perhaps I could convince them to give back the violin, fake a few deaths and everyone lives happily ever after… yeah right, as if. Besides, there was one thing I needed before I went anywhere, and thankfully Samuel, ever the vigilant ally, was as always, on top of things as we pulled up in front of a pawnshop. Having told him what Cat-Catherine wanted me to do, he only nodded and let me sulk in silence as he took charge. "The owner owes me a favor." Was all he said as he made sure I had a fresh helping of those two blood bags we had picked up earlier before sending me inside with an envelope full of cash. "Have fun." He offered, but the serious gleam in his eyes didn't match the smile on his face.

Raising an eyebrow, I decided it was better not knowing where he'd gotten the money, or where he'd been keeping it this whole time, which reminded me I still had a dead drop to pick up at some point, and walked the short distance between the van and the front door of the shop. I shouldn't have been surprised the store's clerk, a kid that couldn't have been older than eighteen, nineteen tops, took one look at me and let his jaw hit the floor. I sighed and rolled my eyes, in no mood to be ogled even if it was kinda funny in a way in hindsight. "Wh-what can I do for you?"

"You can stick your tongue back in your mouth for one." I grunted back before leaning on the counter, which proved to be an error in judgment since I exposed more than a little cleavage to the kid despite my black hoodie doing a great deal to conceal those same assets, which caused his brain to shut down. Hopefully I hadn't permanently damaged anything in there, which was very likely since a cynical part of my mind was certain there wasn't a lot to damage in the first place. "Hey, eyes up front." I said, and snapped my fingers under his nose until he blinked and nodded his head rapidly. "Do I have your attention now or do I have to slap some sense into you?"

I got a dazed nod in reply and sighed in annoyance. "Alright, you asked for this." With that I gave him a slap, careful not to hit him too hard, not just because he was a human and I'm a vampire, but also because I didn't want to get famous for beating up overly hormonal kids. That'd be about my luck, I get arrested for disorderly conduct or something stupid along those lines. It got my point across in any event though as the store clerk rubbed at his left cheek and grimaced in no small amount of pain and embarrassment. "I warned you didn't I?"

"What do you want lady?" He pouted as his bottom lip quivered, looking on the verge of tears.

God, someone stake me now. Instead, I held up one of the bills in the envelope, and saw it was a hundred. I was just as surprised as he was when we realized how much money I was waving around, but the damage was done and besides, I was in need of protection. "I've heard you owe Samuel a favor."

Recognition came immediately and the teen grumbled something about Sammy saving his ass. That answered that question as the horny runt dived under the counter and came up with something that resembled a handcannon more than a simple nine mil pistol. "You're not afraid of a little kick I hope."

"No, why?" I asked as I gingerly picked up the heavy looking piece he'd set before me, half expecting it to bite me or something.

"Because that's a Desert Eagle, lady. Might be a bit much for you, even if you're….not normal." He hesitantly finished, no doubt aware he wasn't supposed to know, yet he took the chance to admit he knew as much to me. Foolish, but he didn't have to worry in my case. I raised my eyebrows in response, wondering just how much the kid knew about the supernatural world out there. He seemed to know my unspoken question since he answered it. "I got attacked once by… something. Samuel burned it with a Molotov cocktail. So I owed him, or I did until you walked in. The gun's on the house, ammo ain't." I nodded, not all that surprised he was bartering even as he repaid a debt to a mutual friend of ours. The gun would have been far more expensive anyway, so I was still getting the better deal in the end even though by the time we got the ammo situation sorted out, along with a new cellphone, a knife, and a set of lockpicks, just in case, there was still a considerable hole in the envelope full of hundreds. I honestly don't know why I got the lockpicks, but I would be glad I did later.

I wasn't about to ask why this kid had enough ammo boxes behind the counter to choke a large dog, I was just happy to have them as I stuffed them in the pockets of my hoodie along with the Eagle itself. "Thanks, see you around kid." I told him and walked outside, determined to get this over with as soon as possible and send Samuel home while I played in the sewers. The poor guy had watched over me the whole day and most of the night, he deserved a little rest.

"Everything go alright?" Samuel asked, and when I presented the gun by pulling it out of my left pocket of my hoodie, he nodded in approval. "Derek might be a horny little git, but he's a good kid at heart. Only reason I had to save his life is because he picked up a Follower of Set for a….night in. Let's just say snake lady wanted more than he was willing to give." He offered in way of explanation even though I hadn't asked, but I had been curious all the same.

"Ah… I'll just pretend to know that I know what a Follower of Set is. Although I think I can make an educated guess and say that they are bad news." I snarked at him with a small smile to show him that I wasn't mad or anything with him. My bad mood had nothing to do with him, and the small smirk he shot my way said he had gotten the hint.

"Very bad news." He agreed seriously and once more had us on our way. "To make a movie reference I'm sure you'll get, remember the Mummy 2 with all those zealots in red following after everyone's favorite undead priest? They're like that, just more...fanatical, and they have a thing for snakes. Some are vampires, some are ghouls, some are completely human, all of them are utterly devoted to the evil Egyptian god Set, and that makes them very dangerous because they aren't afraid to die. Problem is, it's almost impossible to identify them at a glance because they know how to blend in."

"So they're all 'Hail Set!' ala Hydra?" I asked, unable to help but draw comparisons between the MCU's version of Hydra, an evil organization utterly devoted to bringing order to the world by any means necessary, and these Setites from what little Samuel had told me. They too had an almost religious zeal in their beliefs that they were doing the right thing, that they were on the only course that made sense. It wasn't entirely accurate, but it wasn't entirely wrong either to compare Hydra to the Followers of Set.

"Pretty much." Samuel replied and once more shuddered as unpleasant memories filtered through his thoughts.

It took some time, but eventually, we came upon a diner, a very small, very old, and abandoned diner, covered in graffiti and all but tumbling down. If not for the simple fact it was smushed between two far bigger buildings, I doubt Kullman Diner's, once known as the Lunchbox, the Terminal Diner, and several other names, having gone through several different owners over the years, would've still been standing. Built and established during the 1950s, Kullman's Diner was finally shut down in 2006, three years after LaCroix met his end at the hands of a freshly Embraced woman that just did not know how to die, no matter what he asked her to do to achieve that very goal. But again I get ahead of myself. Suffice it to say, the diner itself wasn't the point, since it was far too small to be a haven for anyone, but it was what was underneath that I wanted.

Having made it a point to stop by a internet cafe on our way to the diner, I had been able to set up my new cell, and as such, I had Samuel's number on speed dial. As such, I had no idea how long I'd be wandering around in the sewers, but before I could even suggest that he go home, Samuel only smiled and got out before I could. "Don't even think about it Alex. I had time to take a nap while you were out, so you ain't getting rid of me that easily."

"Uh, no offense but we are going up against full-blown vampires, you sure you want to mess with that?"

"You might be a full fledged vamp now Alex, but you're no fighter. That's what I'm here for. 'Sides, have you ever used a gun before? And don't say Call of Duty because that doesn't count."

"Oh and you have?" I wanted to slap myself up my own head for forgetting the fact he'd shot me, something he was quick to remind me of.

The look I got in return told me that this was probably the dumbest question I could have asked. "Yeah… remember that time where I shot you? Besides if you're worried about me, then I am touched but I can take care of myself. With the right preparation, any human can kill a vampire. There's a reason why hunters are not so easily dismissed after all." That got my attention, but really, it shouldn't have because if vampires were real, why not vampire hunters? Sensing my hesitation, Samuel pushed his advantage as he pointed to the street corner, where I could just make out a camera connected to a street lamp. "They already know we're here anyway. Nosferatu are damn good hackers, technowizards, you name it. We're in the right place, but my point being, you'd be helpless without me."

"Bite me." I grumbled, but only because I knew he was right.

"I think that's more your job than mine. Anyway, I'd say we didn't come here to fight… or was I wrong?"

I sighed and scratched the back of my head as I started towards the diner's crumbling front facade. "No, I had no intention of fighting anyone. I'm hoping we can just talk things out and get Catherine's violin back. Besides, I got nothing against these guys until they piss me off like Charles the Cunt already has." I replied with a shrug of my shoulders even if the Ventrue in question made me want to twist his head off his shoulders. Stepping over piece of the door that had been broken off as we passed through the entryway, I looked to Samuel as he followed behind me. "I'm the new kid on the block anyway, if these guys are as smart as you say, they're probably expecting visitors." No sooner had the words left my mouth did a hatch in the backroom open up, a remote switch having been activated from the Nosferatu's den underneath the diner. We shared a look, before my hand fell to the Desert Eagle's grip. I had no intention of using it, but I wasn't taking a chance either.

Samuel shrugged once before he stepped forward and looked down into the hatch. "Looks like they want to talk… or just kill us out of sight. Anyway, we got nothing better to do."

"You might not but I had plans to write a book if I got out of this alive." I shot back, hoping to lighten the mood even as we descended into the darkness below the diner. Samuel produced a flashlight, along with his silenced pistol, and shone its beam ahead of us, but it did little more than annoy my night adapted eyes. Still, it helped him to see better so I wasn't about to tell him to shut it off.

"You any good?" He asked, genuinely curious as our eyes fell on an arrow that had been lit up in neon lights. The Nosferatu think it's hilarious to use scrap and the like to decorate their homes.

When I didn't immediately answer his question, Samuel stopped to look towards me, his gaze worried he had asked something he shouldn't have. I shook off the pain as best I could and managed a weak but reassuring smile. "Eliza seemed to think so."

"Perhaps, but I didn't ask her. What do _you_ think?" He replied and looked me in the eye. "You think you got talent or not? Does it make you happy?"

"Can we talk about this when we aren't in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation?" I asked, finding it rather strange he was asking about this in the middle of us trying to find Catherine's lost property.

"Avoiding the subject, why am I not surprised?" He mock pouted, only to chuckle when I slammed my elbow into his side which only made him laugh. "And you're physically abusive, oh how did I end up with such a cruel mistress as you?"

"I'll give you cruel mistress." I grumbled between my teeth yet I couldn't help but smile anyway as we continued to press forward into the darkened tunnels. We hadn't hit the sewers yet, but I could already smell them in the distance. Raw sewage is hard to miss, especially when you've got a nose like mine.

"You are just proving my point you know?" He told me with a chuckle before he suddenly stopped. "So, how long were you planning on following us? You know why we're here, so let's get this done, wouldn't you agree ladies and gentlemen?"

I looked at him confused. I had no idea how he could know if we were being followed or not if even my far superior senses couldn't pick anything up.

"Interesting." A voice muttered from the shadows, and I began to look for its source, though Samuel just continued to stare ahead. "What gave us away?"

"Absolutely nothing." Samuel said with a smirk. "But I know how you operate, you like to stalk everyone the first few times they enter your lair. By the way, that was sloppy kid, revealing yourself just because of a bluff, you ought to be more careful." If it wasn't weird enough that we were talking to thin air, the almost cheerful laugh his words got back was just the icing on the cake.

And then, I got my first look at a real Nosferatu, not the Bram Stoker's rip off I had been expecting. He...actually wasn't that bad, despite how Catherine had talked about them earlier, but he wasn't a Samedi, so that helped. The only real oddity about him, besides the way his face was slightly misshapened and elongated, as if he'd stuck his head in a giant vacuum or something, was the extra teeth sticking out of his cheeks and the recently filed down talons on his fingers. "Yeah we tend to get stupid when new blood pops up, but we just like to be friendly to the new neighbors, what can I say? Nice to meet ya kid. Name's Tim, hacker, procurer, and general handyman for this little warren."

I felt my eyebrows shoot up to my hairline but I wasn't repulsed by Tim's appearance as one second, there was no one in front of us, the next, the shadows gave way and spat out the Nosferatu in question. If anything, he intrigued me to no end. Not the Toreador, frozen in place level of intriguement perhaps, but I was still curious about this strange fellow that had so far been quite friendly to us. The black leather coat and pants might have been a bit much, but meh, to each their own right? "Tim? Seems a bit-"

"Mundane?" He chuckled and smiled, and while his teeth were as misshapened as his face, crooked and stuck at odd angles, he didn't give me any creepy vibes in the slightest. "Yeah, all new bloods like you tend to say something like that, if you don't run away first anyway. You're alright kid. Alex right?"

"Why would she run away? She already met Charles." Samuel quipped which got him a dry laugh from the Nosferatu.

"Ah, that explains it. If she can stand him she must be incredibly tolerant."

I shrugged and smiled as I relaxed completely about the same time Samuel tucked his pistol back into its holster at his side. "I just don't make it a habit of judging a book by its cover." I said, before holding out my hand to Tim who looked surprised at the gesture, before taking my offered limb and giving it a firm shake.

"Glad to hear it new blood. Sorry you had to deal with Charles though, but it could have been worse I suppose right?" Tim said before crossing his arms over his chest. "So, what brings you down to our little haven?"

"We're looking for something that was stolen from Catherine-" I didn't get a chance to finish as Tim sighed and hung his head.

"Uh oh, I know where this is going." He groaned and slapped a hand over his forehead.

"I take it you weren't responsible?" Samuel asked and rolled his eyes. "Why I am not surprised? Seemed strange for you guys to get so sloppy even for your new guys, unless you were in a hurry for a specific reason."

"Nah, we ain't stupid, even our new guys know better than to fuck with a Primogen. We make sure of it." Tim replied before sticking his hand in his pocket of his black leather jacket with a huff. "There's a Samedi in town, he's been giving us trouble, and when we heard he wanted to cause Catherine a headache, we tried to stop him. That's why we 'got sloppy', and got ourselves spotted."

"A Samedi?" I asked, and looked between the two of them for an answer.

Tim got to it first. "Long story short new blood, Samedis aren't cute and cuddly like us. They've got more of a problem with being in public than we do, what with their skin sloughing off at all hours of the day. Not only that, but they aren't exactly nice people even in the best of times."

"Think of death obsessed necromancers zombie hybrids and you are pretty close to the real deal." Samuel explained, kinda.

"Great." I muttered before running the back of my hand across my forehead, flicking a small spider off into the darkness as I did. "Just when I thought I'd seen everything. Any idea where we can find him?"

"If we knew we'd have taken care of him already. Even if he hadn't messed with Catherine, he's been causing us all kinds of grief, new blood." Tim said, making me curious as to what he'd been doing to make the Nosferatu want to take him down, but I didn't ask. I probably should have, but I was staring at one of my childhood favorite monsters in the face. Call me a nerd, go on.

"Is he aware that you're looking for him?" I asked curiously. "Otherwise we might be able to… draw him out somehow?"

"Could work." Samuel mused and rubbed his chin. "Some of them work as assassins, we might be able to draw them out by issuing a contract in the supernatural community, unfortunately there could be others crawling around. So not the best plan but still possible."

"We could order a hit on Charles." I blurted out without thinking, which caused the other two to stare at me, mouths open in disbelief.

"Damn, new blood. You sure don't think small now do you?" Tim asked with something akin to admiration in his voice.

"Well if he somehow learns that we are responsible for it, we're dead meat." Samuel pointed out before he shrugged. "On the other hand, he would need a Nosferatu to find that kind of information if we do it right. Besides he's got Kindred bodyguards, so what could go wrong?" …...You just _had_ to say that didn't you Samuel?

At the time it sounded like a good idea though, and the mischievous grin on Tim's misshapen face said he loved it. "Please, you have no idea how hard it is to get into our databases, kid. If you want to set up a fake hit, we can easily get it done and spread to the right people. Charles might not be able to walk out of his house for a while, but too bad for him right? We draw out the Samedi, and any friends he might have, and you get Catherine's stolen property back, everyone wins. Only one problem."

"Where is this guy's lair." Sam finished, to which Tim nodded. I didn't immediately follow, so Samuel explained, helpful as ever. "Would you lug around an antique violin to an assassination?"

"Ah." I replied, catching on although it should have been obvious from the start really.

"Yeah… thing that's bothering me though, why the hell would this Samedi steal the violin in the first place?" Tim asked himself more than us before shrugging. "Well, if we catch the guy we can ask him. The greatest problem I think is that perhaps our guy doesn't work as an assassin."

"If push comes to shove we can look for him the old fashioned way." Samuel offered with a confident grin.

"No offense kid, but what makes you think you got a better chance at finding him than us?"

"I infiltrated the society of Leopold… twice. You pick up a few things." He replied with a small shrug, utterly heedless of the disbelieving stare that earned him from Tim and the utterly confused one from me. "Vampire hunters?" He offered in explanation, although it didn't help my disbelief when I caught on.

"Yeah, better be amazed new blood, those guys ain't right in the head." Tim shuddered, actually shuddered, this coming from a guy that had teeth sticking out of his face. "They're able to stand toe to toe against us, something about the way they train allow them to beat us at our own game. And they're utterly fanatic to their god no less, which just makes them more dangerous."

"Yeah, they view everything not human as Satan's spawn or something like that." Samuel agreed and rolled his eyes. "It actually made it easier to get in, I had just had to act like a man crazy for revenge on the 'evil, demons that took my loved ones away'." The last part was said with more than a hint of bitterness, and I couldn't help but wonder if that had truly been a lie. I couldn't explain it but I somehow knew that Samuel was deeply wounded on an emotional level.

Whatever the case, I didn't get a chance to ask as Tim grimaced, having heard something similar as I had, and rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. "Sorry kid. But as I said, any help you can give us would be appreciated. I'd let ya see the rest of the den, but uh, not all of us like outsiders so much."

"No problem, you got enough guys giving you grief up there. You should have your sanctuary." Samuel replied without a second thought. "We'll come here when we hear something new, provided of course that you don't hear it first. That does raise a question though, how do we reach you if we have to?"

"Heh, that's easy kid." It turned out Tim and Schrecknet, the Nosferatu network, as he called it, was already on top of things. They had already gotten our info, had sent emails to our respective accounts, and had left Tim's cell number in our inboxes. "We have our little talons in every information database, there's nothing that happens in the city we don't know about, new blood. That's how we knew who you were."

"Impressive but...kinda creepy." I admitted, equal parts in awe by their ability to adapt to the modern age and creeped out that privacy apparently meant jackshit to these guys. It didn't help any that I remembered that Brujah bitch admitting to the fact they had hacked my personal information, and now I had a face and a name to go with it, but having met Tim, I was able to let it go….sort of.

Tim for his part shrugged in response, having no doubt heard it all before. "Perhaps, but it is our only way to interact with the world above, well, without being looked at like an abomination. We can even chat with humans that way."

"Was that supposed to be reassuring, because that's still creepy." Still, I smiled and nodded, before cocking my head to the side a little. "Whatever the case, thanks for the help Tim."

"No problem new blood. Just be careful out there. Hate to hear something happened to one of the only decent Cammies we've met in a while. Met a nice Anarch girl couple weeks ago, but that ain't the same thing."

"Not sure what I am, yet. I first have to get these trials behind me so that I don't have to be worried about being killed for no reason anymore. Afterwards… no idea what I'll do. I don't think the Camarilla is all bad, but I don't think that everything they do is right either. On the other hand, I have no idea if the life of an Anarch is something for me."

"They ain't all bad, but personally, for all its faults, the Cammies are the best thing that happened to us, new blood. The Dark Ages, so I hear, kinda sucked back in the day, and that's what got us all workin' together like we do, for the most part." Tim replied, revealing far more than most people had since my Embrace with that single sentence put together. "Anarchs are all about freedom and equal power, but they're not altogether as they like to think. 'Sides, someone will always be in charge, no matter what they think to the contrary. Isaac back in Santa Monica is still called the Baron of LA after all."

"Huh, thanks Tim." I remember saying, my mind busy at trying to dismantle what he'd given me to think about until Samuel cleared his throat. Once more, if I could have blushed, I would have as I remembered our reason for being there. "Right, sorry, We'll see you soon I imagine."

"Not if we see you first, new blood." Tim chuckled before disappearing into the shadows once more.

Samuel and I were all smiles despite the rather tense air that had followed us into the dark tunnels. Leaving them in far better spirits, even though we had just put out a fake hit on Charles, which in itself was rather amusing given the situation, I took Samuel's hand once we were back in the diner and he pulled me out of the hatch that had led us down in the first place. As soon as we cleared the stairwell, the door slammed shut, and the floor slid back into place, as if there was nothing there to see. "Nice people." I mused, to which my companion chuckled as he started for the van. "What?"

"Nothing." He hummed, his eyes twinkling as he looked over his shoulder at me.

"What?" I demanded this time as we got back into the van together.

He chuckled and made a starstruck face at me, which clued me into why he was smiling like a loon. "You were completely swooning over Tim the Nosferatu."

"I was not!" I protested, although in truth I had found it hard not to stare in awe at the monster man in question. Nerd, complete, utter nerd, and proud of it, but in moments like this, I couldn't help but deny it as Samuel found it quite fun to poke fun at me. So when Samuel continued to grin and shake his head at me as we started back to my little haven, I finally relented. "Fine. I used to love all those old monster movies, happy?"

His answer was to grin and nod. "Very, but was that so hard to admit?"

"Yes." I pouted, but I couldn't keep the angry gleam on my face to save my unlife as it broke apart and a toothy grin appeared in its place. "The way Catherine talked about them though you'd think they were barbarians at the gate or something."

"Meh, Camarilla for you, Alex. They might have kept everything from falling apart for your kind, but they have arrogant poles the size of their egos jammed up their asses." Samuel replied as he shrugged since there was little use complaining about it, and I had to agree with him. "Also she is very proud of her looks, and tends to feel superior to those who can't match them, in her opinion probably everyone. For me? Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder." He shrugged once more, but it was nice to know I wasn't the only one that didn't judge by first appearances.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough fun for one day." I said, and was glad to see Samuel looked ready to head home for the day. We'd been busy for the better part of the night, and while there was still a few hours yet, until the 'hit' had gone out and we had received something new to go on, there wasn't a lot left for us to do. So Samuel put in a call to Catherine, told her we had made some progress, which we had, and raised an eyebrow when she asked, _asked us_ , to come back. That set alarms bell off in my mind as we shared a worried look, but there was no way to refuse her.

Soon enough we found ourselves back at Catherine's building, and I was soon back on the top floor sans Samuel since she had asked for me alone. After the last time, I wasn't looking forward to meeting with the powerful Toreador, especially since her guest had flown the coop about the same time I had left the building. She wasn't stupid, she'd have figured it out, and I was expecting her to be ready to cut my head off, or set me on fire, or something equally permanent and unpleasant.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Catherine's clear concern and worry as she gestured for me to stand next to her in front of a rather large flat screen TV that was nestled between a picture of Amadeus Mozart and another composer I had no name for. There, on the screen, was a news feed of the warehouse fire, and the reporter on the scene detailing the death of the men inside as well as the women I had saved with Jack's help. "Jack got to you too." Catherine stated, and before I could get away, she did the last thing I expected, and embraced me in her arms as if she were hoping to drive away a child's nightmares. In a way that wasn't far off the mark. "I am so sorry I didn't see it before, darling."

 _Huh? Brain does not compute_. I thought, utterly confused by this new side of her. Half wishing she would look at me in disdain instead, that would be more in character for her. "I don't understand." I admitted a moment later, deciding that this was probably the best chance to get answers from her. "What's going on?"

"Oh, my apologies, you don't know, of course you wouldn't." Catherine said as she pulled away and put her hands on my cheeks, a sad, endearing smile on her face that held true warmth and compassion, which was just as strange given what I had seen of her thus far. "Jack is bad news wherever he goes, but he has a tendency to help out newly Embraced people that have no Sire of their own. For that he has my thanks, but he tends to...cause trouble with the way he goes about it. It's a well known fact the fiasco in Santa Monica was his doing." I had heard rumors of strange happenings, and an explosion in some high rise building a few years back, but I hadn't thought anything about it at the time. I was still human after all, so I wouldn't have had any clue as to the secret society hiding just behind the real world and its happenings.

"Did I do something wrong when I talked to him? I mean I can't be killed for that, right?"

Catherine let her hands fall from my face and smiled a little wider in response. "No child, our laws are not _that_ harsh." I breathed a sigh of relief only to almost suck it back in when she continued talking. "Now about Lucifer." She began and immediately every instinct in my mind told me that I was screwed. "I wanted to apologize for my behaviour." _Huh?_ "I shouldn't have acted so… jealous. I know full well what he does, and why, so it shouldn't have surprised me he came onto you as he did. He merely acted like he always does, it is in his nature after all."

"Did I fall into a version of the Twilight Zone or something?" I blurted out, to which Catherine let out a peal of almost angelic laughter in response.

"Oh my dear girl, you must think me quite the monster indeed to ask that. Don't get me wrong, I am a monster, but I look out for my clan members to the best of my abilities." Catherine replied before gently squeezing my shoulder as she began to steer me towards another part of her lavish home. "As such, I realize what I've asked you to do might have been a bit….overzealous, but I appreciate the efforts and the progress you've made in such a short amount of time. The fact you put out a fake hit on Charles is just a bonus in my opinion. Genius, truly. We'll not tell Charles of course. It wouldn't look good for the trap if he's aware."

"Right." I agreed, not sure why I suddenly felt uncomfortable with where this conversation was going as she continued to gently direct me to what I soon realized was a guest bedroom in her little home. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Oh? I thought I would offer you a place to rest for the day. That hovel of yours, repurposed as a haven? That wasn't my idea, and it's no place for one of our clan Alex. I'll be sure to make arrangements for something more fitting, but for now, I'd sleep easier if I knew you were closer at hand." Ah, she didn't want Jack having another chance at me. That's what the cynical part of my mind suggested anyway.

Perhaps it was even genuine concern or just a combination of both, whatever the reason I was glad to accept. "What about Samuel?" I couldn't help but ask. "He should know that he doesn't have to wait for me."

Catherine nodded and smiled, but some of that warmth bled away from her face I couldn't help but notice. "Of course dear, I'll tell him of this arrangement. Don't worry about him. He's most capable at what he does, which is why I asked him to help you after all."

I noted how she said 'asked', and wondered if that was her way of saying ordered or if he perhaps was something more of an independent contractor for vampires, and thus she had truly asked him. The more I learned about the guy, the less I seemed to know about him. Whatever the case, Catherine soon left me to my own devices, and after the crazy, wild night I'd had, I found I was suddenly very bone dead tired and the lavish, giant king sized bed was calling my name. I don't think I even kicked my shoes off before I fell face first into the damned thing, and I was soon enough out like a light.

 _ **End Notes**_ _;_ _ **Vergil1989:**_ _Lol well, that happened. Considering there's all manner of strange, unnatural beings running around, it was Nomad's awesome idea to throw in the first Fallen himself, and it seemed rather fitting since this IS the World of Darkness and all. It might be vampire centric, but we still see at least two werewolves, a blood guardian, and more than a few flesh crafted freaks of nature in Vampire the Masquerade and its many mods made by the community. That and given our shared love of Lucifer, a new show that's become an overnight sensation given its premise, the Devil taking a vacation in Los Angelos no less, ironic much?, it was too much of a good opportunity to pass up lol._

_As for the Follower of Set, Samedi, and a number of other Antitribu and their variant clans, they won't be the only ones we mention as things progress. I don't remember seeing a lot of them popping up in the other stories on FF, and since this is a mostly original story beyond a few canon characters popping up, it seemed fitting we do more with the other clans outside of the Camarilla. Anyway, hope you guys have enjoyed. See ya!_

_**Nomad-117:**_ _Hey folks, hope you enjoyed this chapter and our "easter egg" which was as subtle as an unholy hand grenade but lots of fun to write. Still, I hope you liked it, for this may not be the last time we pull something like this. Although we will try to limit it to a reasonable amount. And like Vergil already said, there will be a lot of other things coming up, like those eastern vampires whose name escapes me at the moment._

 **Vergil** : _The Kuei Jin. You're welcome. : P_

 _ **Nomad-117:**_ _Yeah, those guys. Thank you. See you next time!_


	4. Lectured

**Chapter 4: Lectured**

Considering the conversation I had had with Lucifer in the elevator, and how I had spilled my guts to the smug bastard whether I wanted to or not, I shouldn't have been surprised that I dreamed of her….of Eliza. Of how we'd first met, officially anyway. I think I might have seen her a couple of times before she had sat down at the bar in that club I used to work at, but it was always in the middle of a crowd, one time at a cosplay party at a New York comic-con event. Yes, say it, I'm a nerd, bite me. We've established this already. Another time I think I saw her at one of my favorite shops.

Perhaps she had been there because she knew that I liked it? She had known more about me than what would have been possible for an acquaintance. Perhaps she had planned to ask me out or something? Perhaps, I didn't know there were a thousand possibilities and I had no way of knowing which were the right ones? Whatever the case, shy as she was, my emerald eyed goddess sat down at the bar one insignificant night, and we began to talk. It was a slow night, so beyond a few other customers that were there more to pass the time then get knock down drunk, I was free to do as I liked so long as I kept the drinks coming as the need required, so I had the time to indulge her quiet curiosity over the thumping music in the background.

"Didn't I see you somewhere before?" I remember her asking, before recognition dawned in her emerald eyes that even then, captivated me to no end. "Oh, I think I remember. You were dressed as Zoe Washburne, Firefly right?" She asked, and giggled sweetly when my cheeks turned beet red at the reminder. "Don't be embarrassed, it was a good outfit. It seemed rather fitting for you. Your skin tone alone made you stand out as a better Zoe than most I've come across in the cosplay circuit."

…..Yes, I'm a Browncoat on top of being a nerd. Now get over it. As for my skin tone these days, I'd be lucky to pull off a good River Tam.

Despite her reassurance, I couldn't immediately stop blushing as I coughed uncomfortably in response. "Could we not mention the fact I'm a total geek?"

"Why? I think it's endearing that you're not afraid to show your loyalties so proudly. Zoe is quite the powerful, strong woman from what I understand, yet she's so mismatched with that incorrigible if funny husband of hers." Eliza replied and tapped a finger against her lips as her mind wandered.

My blue eyes had probably glowed in delight at finally having found someone who I could talk with about Firefly, despite my initial embarrassment. Seriously, most people thought that I liked the series a little too much, but Eliza? She loved it just as much as I did and still do. Unable to help myself, I leaned on the counter and grinned, embarrassment forgotten now that I had found a fellow nerd, at least in spirit since in my mind, she was far too pretty to be labeled in such a crude fashion. "And what makes you say Wash is not good enough for Zoe?" I challenged good naturedly, and Eliza giggled again in response.

"Yes, he might be a leaf on the wind and all since he's a most gifted pilot, but she could kill him with her pinky if she had half a mind." Eliza retorted and held my gaze, neither one of us willing to back down. "Of course, maybe that's the point? Some people are attracted to dangerous people." Oh if only I had taken the hint she had left at my feet. Dangerous people indeed.

"I think it doesn't matter if she could easily kill him, only that they loved each other." I argued back. "Call me a hopeless romantic, but that's how I think."

"Hopeless romantic." She said with a quirk of her lips. "It helped he made her laugh I imagine."

It was too easy. "Curse you and your inevitable betrayal!" We were soon lost in a fit of giggles that had us bent over for several seconds before we regained our composure. I remember noting her cold, soft skin against my own as I grasped her offered hand, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. "Alex."

"Eliza. It's nice to meet you, officially at least." She replied, and offered me a warm smile even as her green, luminescent eyes kept me staring as if hypnotized. Not a far stretch given she was a Toreador and all, even if mental domination isn't a part of our repertoire, at least not naturally anyway. "So, what other things do we have in common I wonder, beyond our love for Firefly and its follow up movie, Serenity?"

"I'm sure we can find a few things." I replied, managing to look away at last, and made it a point to start cleaning up for the night although there was still another two hours on my shift. Anything to keep me from staring and driving her away by being a drooling idiot. That was my thought at the time anyway, but Eliza didn't seem to mind.

She waited patiently for me to finish up and graced me with a shy smile when I was ready to go. "You had something in mind?" She asked and cocked her head. "To get to know each other." She clarified, realizing how that had probably sounded and was quick to backpedal on the off chance she had offended me. Far from it, but it was still cute.

I blushed but chuckled as I nodded. "I'm just glad I didn't scare you off yet. Most people thought my nerdy induced habits were downright weird back home." Unfortunately that's not an exaggeration in my case, but even then, I was doing what I could do to survive an overbearing mother and the whole thing with my dad passing away. When he was still alive things had been bearable, afterwards though, it had been like I was alone. The last person who had truly cared about me was gone, and I was lost to fire and brimstone mom 101. So can anyone blame me for going full on nerd mode?

Eliza seemed to understand though, and gave me a look that at the time I thought was strange since it seemed oddly sympathetic, more so than should have been possible for having only just met each other. She understood, in her own way, exactly the kind of pain I had endured, but I didn't know why, and I hadn't asked. Not that I would have believed her until she bit me of course, but that comes later. "It would take a lot more than that to scare me away Alex." Was all she said at the time, before perking up just as quickly. "Besides, what's so wrong with being a nerd exactly? Normal's overrated."

"Huh, and we just found another thing we have in common. We think being normal is boring." We shared another giggle as I collected my coat and bag from the doorman on our way out of the club, before having to wait for Eliza to do the same. Afterwards we were on our way, where exactly I didn't know, but I wasn't about to argue either. I had just found my nerdy soul mate as far as I was concerned, and it helped she was quite easy on the eyes.

I was giddy with happiness, after a long stroke of bad luck in the big bad city I could finally see the light, or so I thought. I had actually looked into the abyss without realising it, but at least this particular abyss didn't make me want to look away. But that was the point wasn't it? Vampires are predators, and Toreadors are the prettiest, the most gorgeous of the bunch, so it's no surprise I was stupidly following one around like a lost puppy. Even now that I know what would happen, I cannot say that I wouldn't have gone with her. Despite all that has happened since then, she made me truly happy during the time we shared with each other. Still, I wish she could have lived to give me the answers I sought myself.

Now that I think about it, I haven't actually given you a very clear picture of her have I? Other than an eye color and the fact she's pale as any Toreador vampire, I mean. Funny thing is, those are some of the only features I can ever recall with any clarity without racking my brain for the rest, but it is there, and I certainly saw enough of her body to know every curve and angle, it's just locked behind a fog for some reason. Maybe I suffered a bit of amnesia, like that girl from Santa Monica is rumored to have suffered, when Eliza bit and Embraced me? Meh, who knows, but I _do_ remember, that's all that matters, it just takes me time to recall the details for some reason. Part of it might have been her Presence, or a number of things that make it hard for me to remember more on demand, who knows. I imagine waking up in the morgue didn't help with my memory.

Whatever the case, Eliza was beautiful as any Toreador, but that should be obvious by now. The problem with this amnesia was that it also made me feel like I forgot something important, not to the world or anything but to me. Maybe some kind of goodbye from her? Something to remember her by? I didn't know what was eating at me whenever I thought about it. Hence I tried to avoid thinking about it. Sorry, getting distracted again. Emerald eyes, pale skin, focus Alex. Midnight black hair, a little smaller then me, lithe, graceful and despite being undead, full of life. Despite her inherent shyness, she was passionate, outgoing when she was in an environment she was comfortable in, and since we had so much in common, it wasn't hard to get her to open up. Those are the details that I can recall, along with the fact that she was an amazing kisser.

Although that makes me wonder why I don't recall the feeling of her cool body against mine. I mean Kindred are simply put, cold. Same temperature as everything around us, but I cannot remember ever feeling that when I was with her, at least not to the point it was uncomfortable or unnatural anyway. Instead I felt a warmth that should not have existed, or was I simply so smitten by her that I didn't care? Or, and here's a thought that should scare anyone a little, did she ensure she was warm by feeding before she came to me? Because if she had the foresight to take that step, to ensure her cover was so intact, then what else was premeditated? I want to believe it was the former, that I simply didn't care and that she had felt something close as to how I had felt for her, but I will never know for certain. I only have what others have said about her to go on, and not everyone had a positive outlook regarding Eliza of the Toreador clan.

I don't know, but what I do know is that those first few days had us meeting at the club, before we'd head to the movies, any anime or comic cons that were in town, which she was always able to afford despite my offers to pay for some of the fee to get in the door, or we'd just sit in her home and watch movies all night until I fell asleep on her couch. I never asked why she never ate anything, why she never drank anything, although I did remember finding it weird, I was just too wrapped up in her presence to care, literally and otherwise. I might have been utterly smitten with her, but I wasn't blind….not completely anyway.

It was the middle of May, we'd been going out for almost three weeks, when I finally got up the courage to take things further. It started out as any other night, except we had gone to my hovel of a home in the city for a change, although not because I had wanted to. She had insisted on seeing my place though, and she knew just how to persuade me to get what she wanted. Not that she had to do a lot of persuading, but I was still embarrassed since my place was nothing to look at by any means.

I did mention the hole in the wall right? The one that ensures that the cold continue to dominate the clime in what some would consider an apartment, not me but perhaps others. I think more of it was some kind of hovel that was I forced to live in by sheer desperation. She didn't seem to care though, although I imagine, now at least, that Eliza had done her share of sewer running, going through abandoned, haunted houses, and who knew what else, so my place probably wasn't so bad in comparison. And yes, there really are haunted houses out there. If vampires are real, why not ghosts? And just so you know, some of them are really rude, you round a corner and get a vase in your face for your troubles. And that more than once, kitchen utensils… those tend to hit you too. But we'll get to my own misadventure in a haunted house, or rather a haunted hospital, later.

Needless to say, I was embarrassed as all Hell, but when I saw Eliza and her nod of approval, I remember letting out a massive sigh in relief that she found cute, much to my chagrin. She merely pulled me into her chest and kissed the top of my head as she had a tendency to do. "Don't be ashamed," she whispered into the top of my head, "it's not that bad. Trust me, I've seen far worse."

"I doubt it." I muttered morosely.

"I wasn't _always_ so well off you know." She was quick to point out.

"Still, my apartment looks like it's about to collapse. Where were you that could have been worse? A war zone?" I asked, and pulled away so that we were at arm's length from each other yet still close enough to be comfortably in the other's grasp.

She giggled sadly and shook her head, but if I had known the truth, I wouldn't have been so flippant about it. "No, nothing like that, but everyone who isn't prepared for the city tends to end up in the same place at some point."

"The graveyard?" I asked, surprised and more than a little bit disturbed. "You had to live in the graveyard?" Let me clear this up right now if last chapter wasn't apparent enough for you, we don't need coffins. That's a myth. That said, at least one clan are cursed to sleep close or in the dirt of where they were buried or something along those lines. I don't know the details, but overall we can sleep where we like, so long as the sun can't get us.

So looking back, hearing Eliza's response was a little surprising, but even then the strange, sad gleam in her green eyes was still not what I had expected. "Eh… not exactly what I had in mind, but close enough." Suddenly my apartment was looking like a palace in comparison to wherever she'd been before meeting me. Before I could begin to apologize though, Eliza put a finger to my lips and smiled. "Don't, it was a long time ago, and I've moved on, quite nicely as you've seen."

"Still feel like an ass for bringing it up." I replied softly, but I felt better about making such a stink about my living arrangements.

"Don't worry about it, I would hardly be able to function if I would let something like this bother me."

"Still sorry."

"You can be rather stubborn, has anyone ever told you that before?" Eliza asked, her green eyes seeming to glow brighter as her inherent mischief started to surface.

Now I was able to grin as I playfully pushed Eliza back. She laughed, but grabbed my hand on her way down, and I ended up falling on top of her on the couch. "I might have heard that once or twice." I replied, smirking since she'd been more than happy to remind me since we had started going out regularly. What happened from there? Use your imagination. Because I sure as hell won't tell you, but I will say this. We eventually wound up in my bed, a contented, sweaty tangle of limbs, well...I was the sweaty one, she wasn't, jerk. Not that I was complaining, I was happy, she was happy, I hope, and I thought nothing could go wrong.

That wasn't the first time we'd end up falling into bed, sans clothes, it was just the first. I had gotten used to her disappearing before the sun came up, although she had come up with the believable story she had to work second shift for an unforgiving boss. Well, that wasn't a far stretch, she just failed to mention the fact her 'shift' was really her sleeping in the safety of her haven until the sun went down. And I guess the sun really was unforgiving for a vampire so… yeah, maybe I am just making excuses but damn I loved that girl, woman, vampire, whatever.

Sometimes we'd just stare into each other's eyes after we had satisfied each other, quite vigorously in some cases, other times we'd talk until I passed out, which was often. One time though something a little weird happened as I pulled out one of those notebooks or writing pads most authors tend to keep around for when random ideas pop up. I ended up getting a damned, annoying paper cut. And before you jump to conclusions, no, she didn't bite me that night, but she did suck on my cut finger….a little too much for comfort, but she brushed it off after she came out of whatever trance she'd fallen into. Yet the rest of the night felt like she was privy to something only she knew and was afraid to tell me whatever it was she had discovered.

The next day was like nothing had happened, so I pushed the incident from my mind, but it wasn't until we had nestled in her tub, surrounded by softly glowing candles she had set up before inviting me over to pick up where we had left off the night before, that she asked me something that should have set off alarm bells in hindsight. "What would you do if you could live forever?" Eliza asked, her arms wrapped around my bare midriff as I hummed contently, sprawled out atop her in her bath which as you can imagine, was just as richly appointed as Catherine's home, if a fair bit smaller.

"I don't know." I hummed, eyes closed and perfectly relaxed, but I thought about her question for several moments before giving her an answer. "It'd get boring I know that, but at the same time, it might be kinda fun, depending on who I got to spend the time with." Eliza chuckled knowingly and splashed me for the comment. Still, the moment of levity faded away as I pondered the question in greater detail. "I mean… I don't think I can even imagine what that would entail, what it truly means. Sure I live forever, but that's only one part of the whole package. How it would affect me, everyone around me. And so on."

She seemed taken aback for a moment before a satisfied smile spread over her face. "Most people either want to or they hate the idea, never thinking about what it might cost them."

"Yeah… I can understand that. It's easier that way." I replied with a small shrug. "But I think those that immediately agree are those that are simply afraid of the unknown. If you think about it, that's the scary part about death, you don't know what comes afterwards." Eliza nodded and hummed in agreement as we relaxed once more in the hot water. I didn't know I had just signed my own Embrace, albeit a few weeks later, but having said what I did, Eliza had accepted it as something close to permission I wager. Close enough for her conscience at least, and to make sure her own Beast didn't grow stronger from doing something against her better nature.

**Catherine's Penthouse….**

Waking up with a jolt, I groaned as a growing familiar ache in the pit of my stomach and the back of my throat flared to life about the same time as my blue eyes snapped open. Damn, that dream had been very vivid. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but why that one and not something else I couldn't begin to tell you beyond my suspicions it had been stirred up by Lucifer's drawing out my deepest, darkest desires. I can make all the guesses you like, but I was dazed and confused as I stumbled out of Catherine's guest bedroom. It didn't last long, but it was long enough that I didn't immediately register what I was seeing until Catherine gently lowered her….friend, down to a nearby couch, two little neat pinpricks in the side of his neck fast fading when she flicked her tongue across the bite marks. "Oh, pardon me dearie." She was quick to say when she registered my presence, and the slight shock on my face at having woken up to the sight. "I...imagine this must be quite shocking to you."

"What gave you that idea?" I asked, although I had known in the back of my mind that I'd be doing the same thing soon enough. Walking in on such a thing wasn't what I had wanted to do however. It just felt wrong, like walking in on a couple making out, just with less kissing and more sucking blood from the neck. The only reason why I didn't freak out further though is that I could see the guy was still breathing, although he looked a bit paler, and the odder thing was the almost ecstatic look on his face as he slept off being fed upon. Well sure, I knew that the feeding process was rather pleasureable, but I am pretty sure I didn't look like that when Eliza drank from me. Or so I keep telling myself, having since seen my share of post bit people's faces, some made by my own fangs no less. Maybe one day I'll even believe I didn't look high as a kite when Eliza bit me.

As for Catherine, she had since taken the liberty to dab at her lips, removing any presence of her activities, and shrugged at my incredulous blue eye stare. "If I didn't know any better I'd almost say you've stuck to nothing but blood bags, which actually wouldn't surprise me. Some fledglings in this day and age go out of their way to avoid feeding from people directly for as long as possible, when it is so much easier and far more rewarding for us, darling. Not to mention far more satisfying. Cold, stored blood just doesn't have the same kick to it."

"Well, I'm new at this, even by fledging standards. Not even three days since I woke up." You'd think I'd get my big mouth under control, but thankfully Catherine merely smirked, all too aware as to the source of my discomfort about it all.

"Indeed, but you should really try it. You cannot imagine the pleasure you will receive by doing it. And as you can see, he didn't seem to mind." Catherine emphasized her point by gesturing to the drooling idiot on her couch. The goofy, drug like induced grin on his face was doing no favors regarding my opinion of his intelligence, or lack there of. I thought, at the time at least, that anyone stupid enough to let someone bite them got what they deserved. And some people actually do go out of their way to get bit, trust me I've met more than my share. Trouble is, once the hunger gets to be too much, you tend not to care where your blood comes from, only that you get what you need.

I really felt as if she were giving me 'the talk', vampire edition. I'm still not sure how to feel about that. Touched by the fact that she apparently cared, or just plain old awkwardness. I decided to go with awkward. "Thanks but no thanks."

"Your loss, but you will feed eventually, dear. We all do." She was right, I just didn't want to believe it at the time. Before I could say anything else, Catherine walked past me and beckoned me to follow. Giving her boy toy for the evening one last look, although I couldn't tell you if it was out of worry or….something else, I turned and followed, curiosity getting the better of me. Pushing the thought to the wayside, past her priceless treasures of music from around the world, and from well beyond my time, I eventually found myself standing beside Catherine in a small sitting room. Books lined one wall, a fake fireplace was nestled against the back that gave off warmth and a merry little blaze, but it was the picture hanging above the faux stonework around the fireplace that had my attention. I couldn't help the surprise when I looked between the picture and the woman at my side. Catherine nodded in silent acknowledgment at the healthy skinned, living, woman she'd once been that had been immortalized in one of the oldest art forms there is. "My betrothal picture, from a time such things were still done." She said as I took the chair across from her. "While I was still a doe eyed, naive, if pigheaded spoiled brat I might add, with blood still running in her veins. Ah, those days seem like they happened to another person now."

"I wish I could say I understand, but I really don't. Not even the slightest." I replied, unable to imagine having to live through all those different time periods… I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. Now though, it's not so difficult, since I've lived long enough to have seen empires come and go, so I understand all too clearly what it was Catherine told me that day.

Catherine however smiled endearingly and shook her head sadly in response. "I wouldn't expect you to, my dear Alex. No, no one outside of our little community could ever understand what it is to outlast everyone around us that isn't Kindred. To see the times change, to see buildings rise and fall, to see entire countries change over the span of years, decades, until one day you look outside and you don't recognize anything from when you were still human. Only other Kindred will remember who you are, and even we aren't immutable." The weary, tired sigh that she let escape her might as well have symbolized every long, lonely night she had lived through since her own Embrace. "Some Kindred find it too much to bear and willingly walk outside before the sun comes up, ending their existence, such as it is at that point. Some become lost to their Beasts and they have to be put down for their own safety, let alone those around them, while others simply isolate themselves, slipping into Torpor for years unending. I entertain the idea myself, of going to sleep and letting the times change without me, but then I meet someone like you and I find I'm too curious to see where things go to simply disappear into obscurity."

"Someone like me? I doubt that I'm so interesting." I couldn't help but point out, I mean seriously what makes me so special? There had to be more fascinating fledglings than me in New York alone, let alone the rest of the United States.

But Catherine chuckled softly before reaching over and putting a hand on my knee. That got my attention, needless to say. "You honestly don't know your own worth if you say that, dear." She said before her smile started to fade and she put her hand in her lap once more. "I know you must have questions, so many that you don't even know where to start. Let me explain what I called you here for first and we'll go from there, alright? You deserve that much at least."

I nodded and got as comfortable as I could, which wasn't that hard considering the deep cushioned, high backed chair I was nestled in. Catherine leaned back and crossed a leg across her knee, and let her hands fall on her chair's armrests before she began to speak. "As I think we briefly touched upon before, the Camarilla, those clans that respect and uphold the Masquerade such as the Toreador, the Ventrue, and the Tremere, to name a few, have established a great deal of rules to safeguard our existence. It's the reason why no one knows about us save for those few humans that regularly come to us for one reason or another, some to offer their blood to keep us sustained, while getting the ecstasy of being fed upon. Most however don't remember the experience, so we're able to move on without consequence so long as no one else sees us doing so. However, all this had to start somewhere, or at some time the better wording would be, and the Masquerade, and thus the rules that have kept us safe, began in the Dark Ages. We nearly ended up extinct, both because of the Spanish Inquisition, and the Black Death that came soon after."

Even I knew what the Black Death was, and it made sense that such a widespread, devastating plague would have limited the number of people for the Kindred to feed from. And we can transmit diseases from person to person, even if we don't feel the effects of such sickness ourselves, so with what little I knew of the Kindred, it made sense that some would have been literally deathly afraid of ruining their own source of food. As for the Inquisition, well, while they might not have known about vampires and the other supernatural entities walking among them, it didn't take a genius to figure out they still would have caused the vampire community a lot of grief in their own way by knocking on doors, dragging people out of their homes, and generally being a very big, very bad nuisance all the way around.

Furthermore I later learned from Samuel that the feared Society of Leopold was actually a part of the inquisition, which made some of his stories he was willing to share from his time that much harder to believe. Not that he shared much, I got the distinct impression that his time among them was not an enjoyable one. Point being, while the majority of the Inquisition hadn't been aware of the supernatural community, the Society of Leopold had been and are still very much aware, and they made it a point to hunt down the vampires they could find, and they still do to this day as I think I've said before.

But what Catherine said next was still more than a little surprising as she laid out the basic history of the Masquerade's beginnings. "The Ventrue, of which Charles is unfortunately the leader of here in New York, might pretend they keep the house of cards from falling apart, and don't get me wrong, they do their part, but it's our own clan that came up with the idea in the first place. The Toreador are the best when it comes to tearing down the established order, and in forming new ones to replace it." She smirked when she saw my look of mild amazement at that little factoid, and I had no reason not to believe her. Arrogant, jealous, and any number of unsavory terms I could apply to her, liar wasn't among them though. "Yes I thought that'd get your attention. The Ventrue are the leaders, but when it comes to original thinking, they're sorely lacking in imagination. The Tremere, powerful and all too willing to share their vast wisdom, are mired in their books to really care about much beyond their little covens."

It made sense, if what little I'd seen of the Tremere Primogen was anything to go by. The way he so effortlessly used his power to calm Juliet was hard not to forget, that kind of power didn't happen over night, or the control for that matter. Which reminded me. "What about Juliet?"

"The Malkavian." It was the first time I heard something close to, not fear, exactly, but awe in Catherine's voice, as well as respect if not a bit of pity for the girl in question. It was weird, but it would make sense soon enough. "The Malkavians are, touched, by the madness of insight. Each and every one of them are insane, but they are all connected, in some strange way that makes it hard to offend one without several others finding out about the incident. And while they're insane, they can be incredibly useful if you can gain their friendship. Eliza and Juliet were good, true friends, although it's rumored they were...a little more before you came around. I vastly prefer them over some of our more...uncivilized clans, like the Gangrel."

"The Gangrel?" I was quick to ask, unable and unwilling to entertain the thought Eliza had been sleeping with that madwoman before she'd met me. Call me jealous, I'll admit it, then I'll happily rip your heart out and show it to you. As for the Gangrel, they sounded like some exotic fungus, even if I knew better.

"Psh, they gave up their political power for freedom, making them more Anarch than anything." Catherine said with a roll of her eyes before crossing her legs once more. "That said, if you can get a Gangrel to work for you, you'll be the talk of the town since they prefer their solitude, and they are powerful shapeshifters. Most of the myths we have about our kind came from their unique gifts and they are powerful warriors, but all their power comes from the fact their Beasts are all too present on the outside rather than within. Kinda like the Nosferatu honestly, but you know about them, ugly cretins that they are. Oddly enough though, they're the only one of the clans whose bite inflicts agony on the victim rather than ecstasy, and being embraced by one is not pleasant either."

Can't imagine why that might be given what I'd seen of Tim, and what he'd said about the Samedi. If Tim was anything to go by, it made sense that any bite performed by a Nosferatu or a Samedi would hurt like a bitch, but I'd find out later that it went beyond the physical act itself. As for the Embrace, having bits of teeth, claws, and bones shift and move about would indeed hurt, which gave credence to what Catherine had said about the experience. As for the Gangrel? Well, they're something else altogether. Take the physical prowess of the Brujah, and then throw in a lot of mystical ability to create claws, wings, gills, and any number of animalistic characteristics that they like, and the ferocity to match. That's your basic Gangrel in a nutshell, and they are _very_ territorial. Luckily, they prefer to stay out of the cities by and large, unfortunately, if you cross into their home turf without permission, they will hunt you down and play with you before eventually killing you. So, don't go searching for a Gangrel if you prefer to keep all your limbs.

Catherine continued on unabated, having missed my mild disgust at her little comment regarding Juliet and Eliza's time together. "And the Giovanni? Ugh, don't get me started with those incestious little twerps. That said, don't piss off a Giovanni, the rest of their family, and their ghosts, will end you faster than the sun itself, and the worst part is, death is only the beginning for them."

"The way you talk about them I can't help but ask… do the Giovanni actually _do_ something for the Camarilla besides playing undead gangsters?" I said and scratched my head because they sounded more like a risk than anything useful. Oh if only I'd known the trouble they'd cause me later I might not have been so quick to disregard them. There were a few other clans we didn't talk about then and there, but before this is over, I'd wish Catherine had warned me about them. But there's a reason why they say ignorance is bliss.

"They help maintain the Masquerade, and abide by our rules. That is enough." Catherine replied after a moment of consideration. I took that as a, 'nope, largely useless but they don't bother us so we leave them be'. It was probably just as well I didn't press for more because they didn't sound all that inviting, and that quip about being 'incestious twerps' made me wonder if I really wanted to know what they got up to behind closed doors. Still, thankfully Catherine moved things along before my imagination could gain anymore steam. "My point is, everyone provides something to the Camarilla while keeping our existence a secret. We're people persons by and large, we're able to move almost effortlessly through the modern world, and we keep the other Kindred connected through our own social networks. They like to call us degenerates, hedonists, and far less pleasant names when they think we're not listening, or when we are, but they'd be lost without us and they know it, that's why they tend to hate us so much. Although, I'll admit it's an image we cultivate to an extent on purpose, just to throw off our enemies and rivals. People will take shots at the men in charge after all, while leaving the advisors alone, and that's exactly where we do our best work, from the shadows, seen yet unnoticed save for the occasional rude remark."

"So we're what, the Kardashians with more than a handful of brain cells to rub together?" I remember asking, to which Catherine busted into laughter at the absurd yet not too off the mark observation at the same time.

"If it helps to draw such a comparison, dear." She replied as her laughter died down into far more 'ladylike' chuckles. "But yes, we're social butterflies, keeping our fangs contained until we need them, and we are masters at manipulating a crowd. Surely you've noticed something of that nature happening to you already, dear? Of being able to bend those far beneath you to your will with a coy look and a few well placed words?" Flashbacks of how I had so easily talked my way past those thugs in the warehouse before burning it down came to mind, and Catherine nodded, having already put as much together as she took my silence as confirmation. "Jack might not be the best influence, but he's been around long enough to know all of our tricks, Toreador and otherwise. Presence opens a lot of doors on its own, but all the power in the world means nothing without the will to use it, darling."

"But… I don't know if I should use this power. I mean just because I can doesn't mean I should, right?" I hesitantly asked.

Catherine gave a heavy sigh and leaned back. "Ugh, Eliza was the same, always hesitant to use the gifts we have been given. If we have them why not use them? To us, humans are as cattle is to them, why not make them feel your superiority through your very presence?" She held up a hand to stop my expected protests before I could begin to voice them. "Alex, darling, you're no longer a part of the natural order of things, none of us are. We must do what we deem necessary to keep our connection to our humanity yes, especially since we Toreador are so affected by its loss, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves in the process."

I don't know what was more alarming, or disturbing, the fact Catherine was so cavalier about her nightly activities, or that she seemed to enjoy the power she had over those she seduced and fed upon as she desired. And make no mistake, that is exactly what she did as I'd find out later. While our existence must be kept a secret at all costs, the Masquerade is...flexible, especially where our presence is known and accepted by those that purposely put themselves out there to be seduced and bitten by a Kindred. Hell, it wasn't even illegal to kill a human while feeding on them, as long as it didn't compromise our safety. The greatest problem from such an act is the loss of humanity while doing so, but aside from that no one cared. Well...most vampires don't anyway, of which Catherine was one of those that didn't seem to care all that much about what she left in her wake.

I think that was my problem, I did. Unlike so many others, I cared, perhaps because I was just too afraid or stubborn to let go of my human nature in such a way, but I could never bring myself to look at them like cattle or the like. Even after I got my first taste of blood right from the source, rather than a bag, I couldn't see them as mere 'juice bags on legs.' The day that I do is the day I walk into broad daylight. Catherine must have seen my discomfort though, and sighed endearingly. "Give it time Alex, it might take a couple centuries, but we all end up in the same place sooner or later."

"Can you tell me why Eliza was….given a Final Death?" I asked, hoping to both change the subject and that I got the wording right as to what it was to be killed as a vampire.

Catherine nodded and leaned forward. "This is going to sound cold, but it's a simple matter of population control." _That_ was supposed to be cold? She had just been talking about humans like they were nothing but blood bags, and she was talking about one of her own like this? She continued, either ignoring my stupefied look or just not caring. "We try to keep our numbers stable, too few and we loosen our grip on how many people can be Embraced, too many and we have to crack down, especially on past offenders. Eliza….soft hearted as she was, had been warned before that she couldn't make anymore Kindred until a set time next year, but she went ahead and did so anyway. I'm sure she had a good reason, and if I had been able to do more to protect her, I would have, but Charles wouldn't hear it. Not that I can honestly blame him. As much as we all might hate the Ventrue, they have the unenviable job of keeping things from falling apart in their own way, and they have their fingers in the most pies. The stresses of leadership are not easy to bear, even for the Ventrue, who are often times groomed from an early age to be the captains of industry, the ones that lead the way, and so on and so on."

To hear Catherine talk about Charles, despite our mutual dislike of him, he was someone to be respected and almost pitied even if he _was_ a total douche. That didn't mean I'd ever like him, or pity him however, especially because she had also made it clear that it had been his decision to have Eliza destroyed on the spot. That raised a good question however. "How did they even find us so damn fast?" I asked, and immediately wished I hadn't as Catherine looked away.

"I believe someone told Charles in the hopes of earning favor with him. It happens, far more than I'd like, especially in what some call these Final Nights." I didn't know what to do with this kind of information. I briefly considered demanding to know the name of the one who ratted us out, so that I could show him just how much pain he had caused me before I forced myself to calm down. She probably didn't know, and most likely wouldn't have told me even if she did. Besides, even if I found the guy or girl, they would probably be far more dangerous than me.

Instead I took a breath and slumped in my chair with a huff before something Catherine said caught my interest. "Final Nights?" I asked, curious as to what she meant.

She relaxed and seemed more than a little happy for the change of subject. "Some people, foolishly I might add, believe that we're nearing the end of our cursed existence, that our ancient creators, the original vampires that made our respective clans, are going to come back and consume us all, reclaiming their cursed blood in the process. We call it Gehenna, and since we're all descended from Caine, or again as some believe, you'll likely come across those that refer to themselves as Cainites rather than Kindred."

"Caine? As in _the_ Caine and Abel?" I might not have liked all those Sunday school stories, but I still remember my bible fables. Caine was cursed by God when he murdered Abel, and so he was never able to find peace, even when he eventually died or whatever, I don't remember the exact details. The vampire version however, has it that Caine was the first vampire to ever walk the Earth, and from his blood, the rest of us were created.

"The very same. I thought I remember seeing in the background information that was gathered that you were raised in a religious setting." My derisive snort had Catherine raising an eyebrow. "I take it you didn't like it very much."

"My mother's idea, not mine." I said as calm as I could, which wasn't saying a lot considering the current topic. I absolutely loathed it when it was brought up.

Catherine nodded, none too surprised at my hostility on the subject. "Parents can be our best friends or our greatest enemies. That betrothal picture might have me smiling and 'happy' for the occasion, but the man my father had found for me was a pig. I had no say in the matter, no girl during that time could refuse such a match without forever scandalizing their entire family, and divorce? It was far easier to simply poison your husband and move on to a more desirable match, so long as you weren't caught of course. So you're not telling me anything I haven't experienced for myself, in a manner of speaking." She chuckled then and raised an imaginary glass to the picture above the fireplace. "But then I was Embraced, and I had the last laugh. My husband to be never knew what hit him. I had to make myself scarce afterwards, but my Sire was a far more welcome friend than the pig I would have otherwise been forced to live with. I'd do it all again if given the chance, but at the same time, once was enough."

I could sympathize with her feelings on that matter, but to hear her talk like that about murder was more than a little disconcerting. Which was kind of ironic since this statement was issued by me, the girl who burned a whole gang of slavers to ash. Shaking my head of that particular line of thought, I sighed since now I felt like I owed Catherine at least a partial explanation as to my own personal history, even if she knew most of it from whatever the Nosferatu had been able to find on me. There was still a pretty big difference between what was on a computer screen and what a person will tell you themselves though. "My mom was always a bit of a religious nutjub. I don't think there were a lot of times I could say I ever felt _loved_ by her. She never abused me or anything, but that's about the only good thing I can say about her. I didn't really feel comfortable around her, and all the times she dragged me to Sunday school were like going to court enforced AA meetings or something."

"What religion did she hold to?" Catherine asked gingerly, probably because she was afraid of offending me after I had almost bit her head off the last time not ten minutes ago.

"Christianity, ironic since they're more about forgiveness, compassion, and all that other dribble. Nope, she was all about the fire and brimstone and hellfire, and condemning anything that didn't fit her views, myself included given my sexual preferences." I spat out before rubbing my hands down my face in tired exasperation, but I waved her off when she started to apologize for prying, although she hadn't asked, not really. "Not your fault, and it was at least bearable while dad was still around. He was my best friend, but to this day I don't know why he married 'Her Holiness'. Maybe she was a different person before I was born, I don't know, and I never asked. Probably should have in hindsight, but psh, doesn't matter now, especially now I imagine. She'd probably take one look at me and pretend I wasn't there, or try and shove her cross down my throat if she knew what I was now."

"I'd almost pay money to see her try, before ripping her throat out myself if you didn't." Catherine remarked offhandedly, but grimaced when she saw the uncomfortable look on my face. "I'm sorry, I spoke out of turn."

"No...it's alright. She is still my mother though, even if I hate her guts." I replied softly and looked away even as a red tear started to form in the corner of my eye. I guess I wasn't out of tears after all. More amazingly, although after seeing the almost human woman underneath all of Catherine's predatory smiles and looks, maybe it shouldn't have been as the elder vamp stood to her feet and pulled me close. Something about the gesture, so...motherly, so warm despite the fact she probably hadn't been alive for at least a couple centuries, made whatever walls I had started to build around my grief crumble as it all came rushing back.

"Sssshhhhh, it's okay childe." Catherine crooned, her fingers running through my hair in such a way that brought comfort to my battered psyche as I stained her nightwear, to call her satin robes mere pajamas would have been an insult, red with my tears. She didn't seem to care, and merely held me tighter against her and let me carry on without complaint. "It's okay."

There is one thing I forgot to mention about being a Toreador, although I think you likely figured it out by now. Because we're so close to our former human selves, we tend to be subject to increased surges of emotions. Being repressed and forced to endure my mother's whims had led me to bottle up a lot of my shit, and now I wasn't able to control it all from bursting out as it was now. Granted, a lot had happened between then and now, but it annoyed and frustrated me to no end when I eventually came out of my latest bout of sobbing. Still, I felt better, and Catherine looked down at me in approval as she knelt and dabbed at my eyes with the same bit of cloth she had used on her lips earlier, I realized later. "Sorry…." I hiccuped as I slowly pulled myself together.

Catherine only smiled and continued cleaning up my crimson tears before cupping my cheeks in her hands. "Don't apologize, dear Alex. You're young, in every way that matters, and you've been through a great deal more than most Kindred in recent years. I know...I haven't been the easiest person to deal with, but if you ever need me, for anything, I'll do what I can for you. Eliza was my friend as well, after all, although she was so much more for you I imagine." She softly stated before gently pulling me to my feet.

I appreciated the gesture, and nodded as I accepted the cloth she'd been using to clean up my face. It was all I could do because I was still a bit choked up by her unexpected, motherly overtures that I can't honestly ever remember receiving before that moment. If that doesn't shout cruel irony, I don't know what will. That I received something close to motherly affection from a woman that saw humans as walking cows over my own mother was just sad, yet there it is. Still, as much grief Catherine would cause me later, I do owe her a great deal as I owe Samuel a great deal, albeit for very different reasons.

Bidding me to get cleaned up for the night before heading out, I followed Catherine's instructions, fingers wrapped tightly around the blood stained cloth she'd given me as if it were keeping me anchored. I was still shaken up, but the feeling was fading as I left her side to tend to my personal needs. When I'd come back, there was a bottle of blood waiting on the table that'd been between us, and I wasted no time in draining its contents. I probably looked very unladylike, drinking from a bottle of blood right from the bottle itself, like your typical wine addicted drunk no less, but I didn't give a damn as it did its job, and I finally felt ready to face another long night of who knew what.

And as was quickly becoming blessed routine for him, Samuel was waiting for me in the lobby, looking far better than I had been feeling earlier. "Hey, I was starting to wonder if I'd have to ping your phone." He teased, which made me smile as I soon fell in lockstep with my self appointed bodyguard and friend. "Catherine didn't give you too much lip I hope?"

I shook my head and smiled a little wider, gladdened by the fact he was, as always, worried far more for my wellbeing. "No, she was….very nice actually." I wasn't about to tell him how she'd been more of a mother than my own mother, not yet at least, and he let it go with a nod as we soon found ourselves outside. The heavy rain clouds in the sky got a dubious look from me, but Samuel only chuckled as he produced the same umbrella he'd used to get me to my apartment our first day together.

"What? Did you really think I used this thing for sunlight only? It _does_ rain in New York you know." He teased, only to laugh when I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Really? I never noticed." I asked in mock seriousness and rolled my eyes. "Still, nice to see you again. I'd thought you'd be bored by yet another clueless fledgling you'd have to show the ropes."

Samuel shrugged as he looked over in my direction for a second before climbing into the van once we'd reached our ride. "I may have been there when they wake up for the first time and the like, but usually it's their sire which shows them how it's done. As far as this whole situation goes, it's a new experience for both of us." He admitted, but he seemed content with the situation at hand, and I wasn't about to complain in any event.

"Huh, and here I thought you would do stuff like this everyday. Was actually starting to wonder why you stuck around for so long." I told him honestly which caused him to laugh.

"Alex, even if I were responsible for other fledglings… it isn't like people get Embraced all the time." He responded, still chuckling merrily. "And so far the experience certainly has been… unique."

"Thank you." I replied honestly, knowing that all of this would have been far harder without his support." Truly, thank you."

His eyes softened as he looked at me, with a small smile he put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him. "No problem, seriously. I enjoy your company." Despite being surprised by his sudden embrace I made no move to free myself, to be honest I rather enjoyed it. It made me feel normal again.

And then reality decided to kick in when Samuel's cell phone went off just as he started to turn the van's engine on. Taking a peek at the message, he gave a thoughtful noise before tucking it away in his latest black suit. Why he had so many black suits and ties, making him look like an extra on Men in Black, I don't know, but it looked good on him as he started us on our way. "Looks like Tim's got a hit for our little trap. A meeting's been arranged to talk things over. Hopefully our Samedi friend decides to show up."

"And if he doesn't?" I asked.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He told me with a small shrug, looking rather unconcerned by the whole affair. I envied his calm posture. If I had still been prone to such a human habit, I might have been biting my nails down to the quick in nervous anticipation of something going sideways. Because something in the pit of my stomach said this was not going to be so easy.

I hate it when I'm right.

 **End Notes:** _**Vergil1989:**_ _Lol well, we've so far avoided a full blown rated M, but we got pretty close this round. It probably won't be long, maybe next chapter, maybe the immediate one following this one, we might bump this up so we don't have to tread the line so carefully, but that aside, we hope giving a more detailed glimpse of Eliza and our heroine, Alex, was what you were after in regards to her past. We'll drop more hints as things continue, but next chapter is going to be...messy, although I think we made that pretty clear with that rather cliffhanger esque ending lol. As for Catherine, I was a little surprised myself when I began that scene with Nomad in how we made her almost a motherly figure to the poor girl. Whether that continues to be the case is yet to be decided, but we'll see. Anyway, enjoy folks!_

 _ **Nomad-117:**_ _There you have it, the first step of their plan has been made. But it would be foolish to assume that all will go according to plan, I mean when was the last time something was as easy as that? I'll guess we'll see next chapter just what happened so far. One way or another, alea iacta est. The die is cast, for those not versed in Latin. See ya!_


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